Dzukou Valley forest fire still raging on Manipur side

Manipur government said 200 acres of forest land had been damaged in the fire till Saturday

The forest fire that broke out in the Dzukou Valley, a popular trekking site, is still burning on Manipur side even as IAF choppers, NDRF and other firefighters continued their efforts to douse it on the sixth day on Monday.

Four choppers of the IAF lifted water from a nearby lake and poured them from Bambi buckets while NDRF personnel tried to prevent the fire from spreading further.

"The helicopters carried out several sorties today and they will resume the operation tomorrow (Tuesday) again," said Ratnakar Singh, spokesperson of IAF's eastern command based in Shillong.

Indian Army, Assam Rifles and Manipur firefighters are assisting the IAF and other agencies to douse the blaze. But official sources said not much success was achieved on Monday due to strong winds.

The fire broke out on Tuesday on the Nagaland side at Dzukou, situated atop 2452-meter, and started spreading towards Manipur. The fire was raging so much that it could be seen from Nagaland capital Kohima, situated about 30km away.

NDRF and IAF choppers were called in on Friday.

Firefighters of Manipur managed to control the blaze at eastern side spreading from Mount Khungho towards Mao but it could not be controlled at the southern side. This forced Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh to seek the help of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

Manipur government had said 200 acres of forest land had been damaged in the fire till Saturday.