The Balochistan government Tuesday announced that it has completely extinguished the Sherani forest fire —located in the Koh-e-Sulaiman mountain range — with the help of Iranian government that provided a firefighting aircraft, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

The Iranian government provided an Ilyushin Il-76 air tanker or water scooper that took out flight over the forest fire and in the afternoon the Balochistan government announced it overcame the fire.

The Iranian Ilyushin Il-76 air tanker has previously been used to control forest fires in Georgia, Armenia, and Turkey. It can launch up to 40 tons of water in the air.

The plane took off from Noor Khan Air Base to extinguish the forest fires in Sherani district.

Zhob Commissioner Bashir Ahmed Bazai said the fire had spread over a 25-35 kilometer-radius.

A Balochistan government spokesperson said that fire was extinguished with the help of all departments.

The local rescue operation will continue despite the fire having been extinguished.

Pertinent to note that Sherani Forest is one of the largest fruit-producing areas in Balochistan located in the province’s Zhob division bordering the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province.

The forest was under fire for over a week in which three people lost their lives and three others injured.

Reporter Rizwan Saeed