Turkey deploys navy to support firefighting near Aegean coast

Turkey’s Defence Ministry has dispatched a landing craft and a patrol boat to waters off the Aegean coast to support firefighting operations against wildfires in the southwestern Muğla province and possible evacuations.

The ships have been deployed to Muğla’s Milas and Ören regions, the ministry said on Wednesday.

The battle against 14 wildfires in five provinces continues, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Bekir Pakdemirli said.

The authorities have brought 160 fires in 34 provinces under control since July 28, Pakdemirli said on Twitter on Wednesday.

Eight people have been killed and forests across swathes of Turkey's Mediterranean and Aegean coasts have been razed to the ground as the country fought blazes for an eighth day.

Flames engulfed a housing estate in the Milas Türkevleri region of Muğla and security forces evacuated its inhabitants, Turkish broadcaster NTV said. 

Three neighbourhoods were also evacuated in Köyceğiz, a district of southwestern Muğla located next to the Dalyan delta, a major tourism spot.

A battle to bring fires under control in the southern Gündoğmuş and Manavgat districts of Antalya continued throughout the night. Gündoğmuş district centre was evacuated as a precautionary measure, according to NTV.

Meanwhile in Milas, the fire that approached within one kilometre of Kemerköy Thermal Power Plant, brought under control before reaching the plant on Wednesday, Tele1 news network reported. 

Muhammet Tokat, the mayor of Milas, took to Twitter on Tuesday to warn that the fires were out of control and were spreading up a hill toward the plant.

Tokat has called for immediate air support via Twitter as devastating wildfires encircle the thermal power plant.