The President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev dismissed the Minister of Emergency Situations, Yuri Ilyin, amid a large-scale natural fire in the east of the country, RIA Novosti reports, citing the Press Office of the President.

The fire in the Batpaevsky forestry in the Abay region, east of Kazakhstan, began on Thursday following lightning strikes. Firefighters were unable to quickly extinguish it due to the fact that the area turned out to be impassable for vehicles. As a result of the fire, 3 employees of forestry were killed, and the search for 11 more is underway. According to the latest data, the preliminary area of the fire exceeded 60 thousand hectares.