Heavy smoke from raging wildfires covered the Russian city of Yakutsk and 50 other Siberian towns and settlements, temporarily halting operations at the city’s airport.

Russia has been plagued by widespread forest fires, blamed on unusually high temperatures and the neglect of fire safety rules, with the Sakha-Yakutia region in northeastern Siberia being the worst affected.

Local emergency officials said 187 fires raged in the region, and the total area engulfed by blazes has grown by 100 000 hectares in the past 24 hours.