A male and female found dead in their car surrounded by the wildfire in the Alupka forest district are believed to the first victims of the fire that began on August 24.

Moreover, two officers of the Ukrainian Emergency Situations Ministry combating the wildfire were injured, the press service of the Crimean Council of Ministers said on Sunday.

The fire is raging on the territory of 50 hectares.

Ukrainian Emergency Situations Minister Nestor Shufrych urgently arrived to Crimea from the Kherson region in order tostudy the situation and to organize fire-combating activities.

"The Alpine landscape makes it difficult to combat the fire, and we
are preparing additional forces to help Crimean residents," the press
service said.

According to the press service, over 800 people, including
representatives of the Emergency Situations Ministry, Interior Troops,
the Ukrainian Navy, the Crimean Public Health Minsitry, and others, as
well as 40 units of equipment, are extinguishing the fire.

The wrongful conduct of a Kharkiv resident is believed to be the reason behind the fire, Crimean Deputy Prime Minister Eduard Grivkovskiy said. "He was climbing in the mountains, but he did not manage to descend and called rescuers. He used the flash of his photo camera to make signals to rescuers; however, this did not help finding him. He decided to make a fire then. This was the reason behind the inflammation of the forest cover and trees," Grivkovskiy said.

Rescuers found the tourist, and police detained him. The investigation has been under way.