Along with oil engineers and police officers, firefighters have been working around-the-clock to extinguish more than a dozen wells lit by Islamic State group jihadists in August. "First, the federal police have to check for mines left by IS at the mouth of the oil wells," said Saleh Khodr Ahmad, a worker at the site. Once the area is cleared and the blaze brought under relative control, firefighters "place a pipe into the mouth of the well to pump water in, and cover it with dirt", said Ahmad. The whole process can take up to a month and only two of the 19 lit oil wells have been extinguished. We've all been poisoned by this smoke," Mohammed, whose family still lives in IS-controlled parts of Mosul, told AFP.

Source: Bangkok Post November 20, 2016 18:49 UTC