TURKEY: Fire devours vineyards and orchards in two Syriac villages in Tur Abdin
TUR ABDIN, Turkey – A swathe of orchards and vineyards were burned in the Syriac villages of Bsorino and Sare in the Tur Abdin region of Beth Nahrin (Mesopotamia) in Turkey’s Southeast before residents could get a brush fire under control.
The fire was apparently started by a cigarette thrown from a passing car on a nearby highway, said the headman of Bsorino village.
“The people and the village guards worked together to extinguish the fires, which devoured more than 200 donums [.2 sq km] of productive land,” said the headman.
The fire devoured the vineyards and fig, pomegranate, apple, and other fruit trees belonging to the Syriac families living in the villages.