Firefighters tackle blaze on Tanzania mountain
Firefighters in Tanzania are battling to extinguish a blaze on Africa’s highest peak, Mount Kilimanjaro, local officials say.
The fire started on Friday night along one of the mountain’s most popular climbing routes.
Giant flames and plumes of smoke could be seen on the slopes, witnesses in the area told BBC Swahili.
It is not clear how the fire started or how much forest has been burned. No casualties have been reported.
The fire comes two years after a week-long inferno destroyed thousands of hectares of woodland on Mount Kilimanjaro’s slopes.
Videos posted on social media on Saturday appeared to show large flames and a blanket of smoke engulfing parts of the forest surrounding the mountain.
The regional police chief, quoted by AFP news agency, said he could not yet say how big the fire was.
But a plane sent to the site of the fire was unable to land due to the huge clouds and thick smoke, Kilimanjaro regional head, NurdinBabu, told local reporters.
Subsequently, more than 300 people were sent to the scene to help get the blaze under control, according to the Tanzania National Parks Authority (TANAPA). As well as emergency workers, including firefighters and police, wildlife park rangers and tourism company employees were taking part in the effort to bring the fire under control, it said.
Mount Kilimanjaro, which is 5,895m (19,341ft) high, is a popular tourist destination and tens of thousands of people climb it every year.
Efforts are continuing in Tanzania to extinguish a fire that has broken out on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa.
Members of the Tanzania National Parks Authority (TANAPA) and local people have been struggling to put out the blaze, which began on Sunday.
Their efforts have been hampered by the altitude as well as strong winds and dry weather which have caused the fire to spread fast.
The cause of the fire is not clear.But there is speculation that the flames could have spread from a fire used to prepare food for tourists. –BBC/AFP
