ASTANA – Fourteen people have died in major forest fires in north-eastern Kazakhstan, the Emergency Situations Ministry said on Saturday, the Central Asian country’s highest such toll in years.

“In total, 14 bodies have been found,” the ministry said in a statement, having previously announced it was searching for trapped forest rangers as fires consumed 60,000ha of land.

The ministry said that 316 people had been evacuated but the situation was under control and homes safe, despite the high temperature and the changing direction of the wind hindering the response.

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev sacked Emergency Situations Minister Yury Ilyin earlier on Saturday.

More than 1,000 people, mostly from the Defence and Emergency Situations ministries, are taking part in the effort to put out the fires.

They were started by lightning on Thursday, according to the local authorities in the vast former Soviet nation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered his condolences to Mr Tokayev. AFP