Corpses of Fire Victims Fill Moscow’s Morgues
Many Russians have criticized the government’s slow response to the peat and forest fires that have engulfed swaths of Russia and left a harmful smoke cloud that has choked the capital for several days.
The opposition accused authorities of being in denial.
Powerful Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov, notably silent during the crisis since he left for holiday on Aug. 2, was returning on Sunday because of “the developing situation in the city due to fires,” news agencies quoted his spokesman as saying.
Fires caused by the hottest weather since records began 130 years ago have left thousands homeless and prompted officials to warn against venturing outdoors in Moscow, where flights were diverted and residents wore surgical masks.
The Emergencies Ministry said on Sunday the area of forest and peat fires in the Moscow region had tripled since Friday.
France, responding to Moscow’s plea for aid, offered 120 men, 37 vehicles, 15 motorpumps and a Bombardier Dash water plane, the French presidency said in a statement on Sunday.
An unnamed doctor at a Moscow clinic wrote on his site that the bodies of those who had died from heatstroke and smoke ailments over the last few days were piling up in the basement, as the “fridges are full”, leaving a “rotting stench.” He added the situation was similar at hospitals across Moscow.
Reuters
www.thejakartaglobe.com/world/corpses-of-fire-victims-fill-moscows-morgues/390180
August 13, 2010