The death toll from the vegetation fire which broke out in southeastern Turkey during the night from Thursday to Friday rose to 15 deaths, according to the authorities, while experts point to a possible electrical origin.
According to the Health Directorate of Mardin province, cited by the official Turkish Anadolu agency, three of the people injured in the fire lost their lives over the weekend.
Two others are still in intensive care, we learned on Monday from a hospital source.
The authorities, who reported a death toll of twelve on Friday, attributed the origin of the fire, which was brought under control on Friday, to stubble burning.
The Turkish Minister of Justice announced the same day the opening of a judicial investigation.
In a report made public on Sunday evening, the local branch of the Union of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB) however affirmed that “the cause of the fire was not the thatch”.
“It was observed that the place where the fire broke out was cultivated and that there was no stubble,” writes the Union, which believes that the disaster “could have been caused by lines “electrical” poorly maintained, as residents of the affected area mentioned on Friday.
Experts note that some of the “connections could cause arcing.”
A committee of three legal experts also affirmed Friday that one of the conductor cables of the high-voltage line “broke and ignited the grass on the ground.”
The fire, in which some 500 sheep and goats also died, then “spread over a wide area under the effect of the wind”, they note.
