Turkish Firefighters Battle to Contain Wildfire in Northwest 

A helicopter carries a water bucket as a wildfire burns in Canakkale, Türkiye, August 22, 2023, in this screen grab obtained from a social media video. (Gurkan Duzenli/via Reuters)
A helicopter carries a water bucket as a wildfire burns in Canakkale, Türkiye, August 22, 2023, in this screen grab obtained from a social media video. (Gurkan Duzenli/via Reuters)
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Turkish Firefighters Battle to Contain Wildfire in Northwest 

A helicopter carries a water bucket as a wildfire burns in Canakkale, Türkiye, August 22, 2023, in this screen grab obtained from a social media video. (Gurkan Duzenli/via Reuters)
A helicopter carries a water bucket as a wildfire burns in Canakkale, Türkiye, August 22, 2023, in this screen grab obtained from a social media video. (Gurkan Duzenli/via Reuters)

Firefighters battled a forest fire in the northwestern Turkish province of Canakkale on Wednesday as it spread for a second day because of high temperatures and strong wind.

Helicopters and land vehicles worked through the night and Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said more than 1,200 people from nine villages were moved to safety, with 48 people needing medical treatment.

Authorities also moved patients, including elderly people, from some medical centers as a precaution.

News footage showed raging fames and billowing smoke in hills visible from residential areas. Flames engulfed some abandoned village houses.

Marine traffic in the Dardanelles Strait, a narrow passage connecting the Aegean Sea to the Black Sea, was suspended again, the Tribeca shipping agency said, to allow aircraft including helicopters to collect water to douse the flames.



Russian ‘Spy Whale’ in Norway Wasn’t Shot Dead, Likely Died of Infection

FILE - In this photo taken in April 2019 a beluga whale found in Arctic Norway is fed. (Jorgen Ree Wiig, Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries via AP)
FILE - In this photo taken in April 2019 a beluga whale found in Arctic Norway is fed. (Jorgen Ree Wiig, Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries via AP)
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Russian ‘Spy Whale’ in Norway Wasn’t Shot Dead, Likely Died of Infection

FILE - In this photo taken in April 2019 a beluga whale found in Arctic Norway is fed. (Jorgen Ree Wiig, Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries via AP)
FILE - In this photo taken in April 2019 a beluga whale found in Arctic Norway is fed. (Jorgen Ree Wiig, Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries via AP)

A beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation that it was a Russian spy, was not shot to death as claimed by animal rights groups but died of a bacterial infection, Norwegian police said Friday.
A final autopsy by Norway's Veterinary Institute “concludes that the probable cause of death was bacterial infection -- possibly as a result of a wound in the mouth from a stuck stick,” Amund Preede Revheim, head of the North Sea and Environment section of the police in south-western Norway said.
“There have been no findings from the autopsy that indicate that the whale has been shot,” he stressed, adding that the autopsy had been “made difficult by the fact that many of the whale’s organs were very rotten.” As there was no indication of foul play, there was no reason to start a criminal investigation into its death, The Associated Press quoted Preede Revheim as saying.
The tame beluga, which was first spotted in 2019 not far from Russian waters with a harness reading “Equipment St. Petersburg,” had been nicknamed "Hvaldimir,” combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
It was found floating in a southern Norway bay on Aug. 31.
In September, animal advocate groups OneWhale and NOAH filed a police report saying that the animal’s wounds suggested it was intentionally killed.
They pointed at several wounds found on the animal’s skin, including what was interpreted as a bullet hole.
“Assessments made by the Veterinary Institute and the police’s forensic technicians are that these are not gunshot wounds. X-rays of the chest and head were carried out without any projectiles or other metal fragments being detected,” police said in a statement.
Earlier, police had described a stick about 35 centimeters (14 inches) long and 3 centimeters (1 inch) wide which was found wedged in the animal’s mouth, its stomach was empty and its organs had broken down, police said. No further details were given.
The 4.2-meter (14-foot) long and 1,225-kilogram (2,700-pound) whale was first spotted by fishermen not far from the Arctic town of Hammerfest.
Its harness, along with what appeared to be a mount for a small camera, led to media speculation that it was a “spy whale.” Experts say the Russian navy is known to have trained whales for military purposes. Media reports also have speculated that the whale might have been trained as a therapy animal.
There was no immediate reaction from OneWhale or NOAH.