A Kurdish environmental activist has died and four others have been injured while tackling a wildfire on Mount Abidar in Sanandaj, Kurdistan Province, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) reported.
Hamid Moradi, a lawyer and director of the environmental organisation Shnay Nawzhin Kurdistan, died from severe burns on 25 July at a medical facility in Sanandaj, one day after the fire.
According to KHRN, a large wildfire broke out across Mount Abidar on 24 July, prompting local environmental activists and volunteers to rush to the area to contain it.
Five activists were injured during the operation. Moradi and another activist, Mohsen Hossein-Panahi, were admitted to intensive care, while Khabat Amini, Chiako Yousefinezhad, and Seyyed Mostafa Hazhir were hospitalised in Kowsar Hospital’s general ward in Sanandaj.
The fire was eventually brought under control after several hours, but authorities have yet to release any information on its cause.
In recent years, at least eight environmental activists have been killed or injured in similar efforts to extinguish forest fires in Kurdistan due to a lack of basic safety equipment and government negligence in addressing such emergencies.
Source: ANF News
