Wildfires raging in Russia’s Siberia keep spreading, with 6,000 hectares more engulfed by fires over the past 24 hours, according to Russian Tass news agency.

Wildfires in the worst-hit Trans-Baikal territory have spread to an area of almost 200,000 hectares in 16 districts.

Dozens of thousands of firefighters are combating the blaze in Siberia.

As of 01:30 GMT on Thursday, 64 wildfires covering an area of 195,000 hectares were fixed in the Trans-Baikal territory, the regional forestry service reported, adding that 13 fires had been localized.

The fires began in mid-March, destroying already more than 200 residential houses in 18 settlements.