At least 10 forestry and rescue workers have perished while battling wildfires in Turkey's central Eskisehir province.

A change in the direction of the wind left 24 forest workers and volunteer rescue personnel "trapped inside a fire", Turkey's Agriculture and Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said on July 23. Five forestry workers and five volunteers from the non-governmental AKUT Search and Rescue Association, who were involved in blaze containment efforts were killed, while 14 forest workers were hospitalised, he added.

The wildfire, in the province’s Seyitgazi district, ignited on the morning of July 22 and spread towards nearby areas, local media reported.

The BBC quoted Nebi Hatipoglu, the local lawmaker, as saying that the community was "experiencing deep grief" over the loss of the "heroic forest workers who were martyred while fighting the flames".

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan shared his condolences on X. "I pray for God's mercy on our brothers and sisters who fought at the cost of their lives to protect our forests, and I offer my condolences to their families and our nation," he said.

Amid a heatwave, Turkey has in recent days experienced scores of wildfires across 15 provinces, fuelled by arid and windy conditions. Authorities said fires were presently burning across the areas of Sakarya, Bilecik, Eskisehir, Izmir, Karabuk and Manisa.

Temperatures in Turkey have broken through 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in recent days. Ahead of July 23, inhabitants of Istanbul were urged to stay indoors, with record heat expected to hit the city of more than 16mn.

There are many cities across Eurasia that risk becoming "unlivable" given outbreaks of scorching heat related to the climate crisis, a report lately released by the World Bank and the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery warns.

During this summer, wildfires in Turkey have forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate their homes.

In the summer of 2021, amid an intense wildfires crisis, there was a public uproar when it was revealed that the Erdogan administration had no firefighting planes that could water-bomb the blazes. Erdogan blamed bungling in tenders by the Turkish Aeronautical Association. Firefighting planes were eventually brought in from Azerbaijan, Iran, Russia and Ukraine.