Village evacuated as wildfire expands in southwestern Bulgaria

By Ahmet Gencturk

ATHENS (AA) - A village was evacuated as a major wildfire expands in southwestern Bulgaria, local media reported on Tuesday.

In addition to the evacuated village of Karpelevo in the province of Strumyani, two more villages received evacuation alerts in the area, added the state-run BTA news agency.

Citing the Mayor of Strumyani Emil Iliev, it noted that the fire has already spread to hundreds of hectares in and around the area of Malashevska Mountain.

According to the agency, two French planes, which were initially sent to the country to help efforts to contain a major wildfire in the highlights on the Bulgarian-Greek border, joined the fight against the fire in the southwest.