Fire destroys 10,000 acres of forest in Sri Lanka

COLOMBO, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Drought-stricken Sri Lanka has suffered a record number of wildfires since January this year that have destroyed more than 10,000 acres of forests, an official said Tuesday.

Pradeep Kodippili, assistant director of the country's Disaster Management Center, said 32 forest fires were recorded in a period of more than one month, adding, "This is very high number as we had to spend large sum money to hire people and helicopters to douse fires."

During the weekend, a forest fire in central Sri Lanka destroyed around 1,000 acres of forests rich with indigenous fauna and flora while trains to the area had to be suspended for hours.

Most of the forest fires were reported from six districts in central hills and the dry zone in the North Central Province.

More than 100 forest fires were reported during the last four months and all of them were suspected to have been triggered off by farmers in purpose of starting cultivation, Kodippili said.

The cabinet has vowed to take severe actions against those responsible for forest fires and the police had arrested several people for setting fire to forests over the week. Enditem

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