Fire in the village of Mersinlik turns everything to ash

A fire that broke out in the Mersinlik village in north Cyprus on Wednesday and throughout the night, continued on Thursday.

The fire, which spread to the forest area due to the effect of high winds, is being fought both from land and air.

The village of Mersinlik was evacuated last night as a precautionary measure.

The Ardahan village was partially evacuated as a precautionary measure.

One person who was affected by the smoke and was taken to hospital.

State and government officials flocked to the area to see the situation first hand.

TRNC president, Ersin Tatar visited the area on Wednesday. Speaking to the BRT, Tatar said that an extraordinary effort was made to put out the fire in the region.

Pointing out that the relevant units of the state carried out an extraordinary work in coordination to bring the fire under control and that, in addition to the teams of the Forestry Department, the construction equipment from the Cyprus Turkish Peace Forces Command and the Security Forces Command were used in the extinguishing efforts, Tatar thanked all the teams fighting the fire.

Noting that helicopters were requested from the British bases and South Cyprus as well as from Türkiye, President Tatar said that an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) will come from Türkiye to determine the damage caused by the fire.

Tatar stated that more than 1000 acres of land was affected by the fire, according to initial determinations.

Also speaking to BRT, Prime Minister Ünal Üstel said that airborne response to the fire is continuing and a fire fighting plane from Israel will take part in the fighting efforts in the morning.

Oğuz said that the flames did not reach the upper part of the Mersinlik-Ardahan main road as a barrier was created on the roadside with construction equipment preventing it from spreading further.