ISTANBUL, June 21 — Five people died and dozens were hurt, 10 of them seriously, as wildfires swept through several villages in the Kurdish southeastern Turkey overnight, the health minister said Friday.

"Five people died and 44 were injured, 10 seriously,” when the blaze swept through two areas between the cities of Diyarbakir and Mardin, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Images posted on social media showed a huge blaze lighting up the night sky with vast clouds of smoke billowing into the air.

Koca said four emergency teams and 35 ambulances were sent to the scene.

Separately, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said the fire started late on Thursday in an area some 30 kilometres south of Diyabakir and quickly spread due to strong winds, affecting five villages.

"Unfortunately three citizens of the Diyarbakir area and two in the Mardin area lost their lives,” he wrote on X. — AFP