New wildfires spreading in Russian Siberia

Wildfires raging in Russia’s Siberia keep spreading, with 6,000 hectares more engulfed by fires over the past 24 hours, according to Russian Tass news agency.

Wildfires in the worst-hit Trans-Baikal territory have spread to an area of almost 200,000 hectares in 16 districts.

Dozens of thousands of firefighters are combating the blaze in Siberia.

As of 01:30 GMT on Thursday, 64 wildfires covering an area of 195,000 hectares were fixed in the Trans-Baikal territory, the regional forestry service reported, adding that 13 fires had been localized.

The fires began in mid-March, destroying already more than 200 residential houses in 18 settlements.