Zimbabwe bush fires kill 10 people, 10 elephants
Harare, Zimbabwe – Widespread summer bush fires in Zimbabwe killed 10 people
and 10 elephants recently, police said Wednesday.
-Within the past two weeks, we have about six people who have perished
during veld fires. Ten elephants were burnt to death at Derbyshire Ranch in
Shangani in Matabeleland South Province,- police spokesman Oliver Mandipaka
said.
An environmental agency said the fires, most of them started deliberately,
had also destroyed almost a million hectares of land.
The Environmental Management Agency said more people died in other parts of
the country, bringing the death toll to 10 in the last few weeks.
Among the victims was a 13-year-old boy, who died while trying to save his
employer’s cattle from a fierce fire.
Cornered by the inferno, the boy sought refugee up a tree, but the fire
engulfed the tree and burnt him to death.
Widespread bush fires have engulfed much of Zimbabwe, and most of them are
deliberately started mainly by hunters to clear bushes.
Harare – Pana 01/09/2010