Turkish authorities have temporarily banned navigation in the Dardanelles, the only access route from Black Sea ports to international trade routes, due to a forest fire, reports the Turkish newspaper Hürriyet.
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Navigation through the Dardanelles Strait was temporarily prohibited on Monday July 6 due to the powerful fire that ravages forests on the Gelibolu Peninsula, the Turkish newspaper Hürriyet announced.
“The Dardanelles are closed to the passage of ships because the fire extinguishing operation is underway, including on the sea side,” the daily said.
According to the Turkish Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Bekir Pakdemirli, the fire started around 3:00 p.m. local time near the village of Ilgardere, for reasons still unknown.
Evacuation in progress
Two Canadians, 20 helicopters, 107 firefighters and nearly 400 firefighters are fighting the flames.
Some 300 residents of the village of Ilgardere have already been evacuated. The mayor of Çanakkale province, Ilhami Aktas, said that an evacuation from the neighboring village of Yalova could not be excluded, if the situation worsened.
No one has been injured so far and the flames have not caused any property damage, said Aktas.
A strong wind complicates the fight against fire, reducing visibility, specifies the television channel NTV.
The Gallipoli peninsula (Gelibolu, in Turkish) has been subjected to a heat wave with daytime temperatures above 34 degrees for more than a week.
The Dardanelles Strait connecting the Aegean Sea to the Marmara Sea, is the only one that allows Black Sea ports to have access to the Mediterranean.
In 2017, the forest fires that broke out in north-western Turkey had already interrupted merchant shipping in the Dardanelles Strait.
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