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Venezuelan Environment Minister Jose Lorca announced the arrest of 12 people in connection with the fires that broke out in the forests of the north of the country following a heat wave.
“In Aragua, seven people were arrested, and in Mérida (west), five were arrested,” Lorca said in an initial assessment after weeks of reports of forest fires in at least five states.
He stressed that “the fires were extinguished and no deaths were reported, while firefighters who were fighting the fires were injured.”
Lorca added, “The fires destroyed 900 hectares out of a total of 107,000 hectares in Henri Pettier National Park, located between Aragua and Carabobo.”
The fire also reached the headquarters of the Ministry of Transport in Aragua, causing 112 buses to burn, while the authorities believe that this was a planned criminal act.
The Minister of Environment continued, “The fires are the result of the expansion of agricultural boundaries or arsonists who devote themselves every year to setting fire to the hills.”
Source: Agence France-Presse
2024-04-03 08:09:29