Devastating wildfires that swept through more than a dozen Algerian provinces in late August have left a far higher human toll than official figures acknowledge, according to cross-checked reports from hospital staff, security sources and local witnesses, while the authorities maintain a strict information blackout.
The Algerian government continues to report only 12 deaths. Independent accounts, however, indicate the real number exceeds 300, with the northeastern province of Jijel hardest hit, le360 said.
The toll is expected to rise further as searches continue in remote areas. In one affected commune, 20 victims were buried in haste – ten in a common grave and ten nearby.
Families have described bureaucratic obstacles and delays in recovering bodies. In some cases, remains were transported in refrigerated trucks normally used for food products after morgues became overwhelmed.
The delivery of bodies to relatives was temporarily halted during an official visit by the interior minister to a hospital in El-Milia for protocol reasons.
Authorities have imposed tight controls on coverage. Public and private media outlets received instructions not to publish on-the-ground reports, interview victims’ families or update the death count.
Official channels have focused on announcements that most fires are under control and on President Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s order to reinstate the death penalty for those convicted of starting forest fires, with a legislative deadline of mid-September.
As the regime squanders gas and oil money on Russian arms, it left its civil protection under-equipped and dragged feet on buying water-bombers to counter devastating fires. Tebboune prefers to put the blame on arsonists relying on an old playbook of conspiracy theories.
With traditional media silenced, information and mourning have shifted to social networks, where residents and independent journalists circulate lists of the dead, videos of collective funerals and personal testimonies, particularly from Jijel.
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