India, May 7 -- Heatwave in 2020 caused'world's coldest inhabited place' to boil at 38degC; subsequent wildfires increased emissions and air pollution in the region

Authorities in the Irkutsk Oblast (administrative division) of Siberia in Russia declared a state of emergency on May 6, 2024, after a huge forest fire spread through the Bratsk district, a report in the Russian daily Moscow Times , said.

Igor Kobzev, the governor of Irkutsk, declared a state of emergency across the Bratsk district, even as a woman was reported critically injured due to the fires, according to the Moscow Times . Local residents have been evacuated to municipal centre of Vikhorevka.

On May 6, Irkutsk was among the nine regions where wildfires had been raging...