[January 09, 2006] Forest fire continues in eastern Nepal Tweet (Comtex Environment Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)KATHMANDU, Jan 9, 2006 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Hundreds hectares of government forest in Chhintapu in eastern Nepal's Ilam district have been destroyed as forest fire continued to rage for the past four days. No attempt has been made so far to bring the forest fire under control. The forest, some 400 km east of Kathmandu, is rich in bio-diversity as well as herbal plants and has been an important habitat for animals of rare species. Local resident Som Kumar Lamichhane told reporters on Monday that the fire has been raging in the forest since last Thursday. Acting forest officer Yubraj Maskey said the district forest office has no information about the forest fire. According to Lamichhane, fire also broke out in the forest area in the summer of 1999 which lasted for two weeks. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]