Fire razes part of Merbabu national park

A fire that broke out on Tuesday morning has razed approximately 50 hectares of forest land in Merbabu Mountain National Park in Central Java, while no casualties have been reported.

Kompas.com reported that a group of 160 people comprising locals, military personnel, forest rangers and search and rescue team extinguished the fire on Wednesday afternoon.

National Park head Dulhadi said he had not calculated the total damaged area, but estimated that around 50 hectares of the park's total 5,725-hectare area had burned.

He said that there were reports that the fire had been started by negligent farmers who had taken their cattle into the park for grazing.