Cuban firefighters battle raging forest fire

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban firefighters, planes and Defense Force helicopters were working on Friday to extinguish a large-scale forest fire which has been raging for seven days on the east of the island.

The blaze, which began on Saturday, has consumed large areas and caused extensive damage to forest plantations and coffee crops in the mountains of Pinares de Mayari in Holguin province, some 800 kilometers east of Havana.