A major fire that raged for two days in an area of virgin forest in the Greater Khingan Range in Northeast China was extinguished yesterday morning.

The blaze broke out at about noon on Friday. No injuries were reported.

The area is under the jurisdiction of the Dayangshu Forestry Bureau in Oroqen Autonomous Banner in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Forestry officials said a "large area" was damaged by the fire.

Winds of up to force 5 fanned the flames, which caused difficulties to firefighters struggling to bring the fire under control.

Nearly 2,000 forest police and firefighters, as well as 300 regular police officers, battled for nearly 48 hours to extinguish the flames.

The cause of the blaze is still being investigated and the cost of the damage is not yet known.

Firefighters began to withdraw from the scene yesterday afternoon.

Air patrols continued to monitor the area as a precaution.

The range is said to have been at risk from fire since last month because of a long drought and relatively high temperatures.

In 1987, a severe fire, which lasted for almost a month, engulfed an area of more than 1 million hectares in the Greater Khingan Range, killing nearly 200 people.

Source: China Daily