Fires rage in Russia

May Day picnickers are blamed for the fires

Fires have swept across more than 16,000 hectares of forest in Russia's Far East, the regional emergency situations ministry says.

Authorities in Irkutsk have declared a state of emergency, Russia's RTR television reported.

More than 1,200 fire fighters and 300 fire engines have been mobilised to combat the blazes.

The authorities say public negligence, the mishandling of official grass burning and insufficient funding of preventive services have all contributed to the problem.

May Day picnickers and those celebrating the Nazi capitulation at the end of World War Two have been blamed for starting some of the fires.

The blazes have spread rapidly because of warm, dry weather. Much of Siberia has seen unusually warm with temperatures reaching 20C.

'Carelessness'

In Irkutsk - a densely-wooded area - more than 3,500 hectares were alight, the regional chief of the emergencies ministry Igor Samovolnov said, according to RIA Novosti news agency.

The ministry has sent more than 500 soldiers to battle the blazes as well as appealing to the locals to help.

In the Khabarovsk region, the size of the area affected had almost tripled in 24 hours.

About 3,000 hectares were on fire there, and forestry officials said 750 firemen had been drafted in with parachutists backed up by 10 helicopters, bulldozers and tractors.

Firemen are so stretched that the army and the locals have been called in

"Ninety percent of the fires were human responsibility," forestry services spokesman Sergei Pyrkov told RIA Novosti.

Fires have also affected southern Siberia, including the autonomous Buryatia republic and the Krasnoyarsk region.

Acting governor Nikolai Ashlapov said the situation was "almost critical", according to AFP news agency.

In the autonomous Tuva republic, the fires were raging through a cedar forest and firemen had run out of petrol to run their equipment and were waiting for help from the neighbouring republic of Khakassia, RIA Novosti said.