Day of national mourning it was declared today after the death last Saturday 14 employees of the Forest Service on massive fires in the northeast of central Asia’s largest country, Kazakhstan.

This is the highest death toll in forest fires in the former Soviet Republic in recent years. with an area five times that of France.

“I declare Monday a day of national mourning,” said the country’s president Kasim-Yomart Tokaev yesterday, who traveled to Abai province to meet with members of the victims’ families.

On Saturday, it was announced that they were found dead 14 rangers trapped in the flames near the border of Kazakhstan and Russia.

The massive fires were caused, according to the authorities, by lightning and spread by drought and winds. They cost the Minister of Emergencies, who was dismissed by President Tokaev, his position.

“The Ministry (of Emergencies) and the competent authorities made wrong predictions about the scope of the disaster (…) They showed a lack of professionalism, negligence. The guilty will be punished,” the head of state said, addressing the families of the victims.

According to the most recent update from the authorities yesterday Sunday afternoon, the fire was under control, no homes were threatened and the flames were about 70 kilometers from the prefecture’s capital, Semey.

About 1,500 peoplethe, mainly workers in the Ministry of Emergencies and members of the armed forces, yesterday continued the struggle to put out the flames that were still burning forests for the fourth consecutive day.

Central Asia is particularly vulnerable to climate changeor global warming: in the last thirty years, temperatures there have risen by 1.5° Celsius, or twice the global average, according to the International Monetary Fund.