KDDI Apologizes After Fire Burns Most of Mongolia's Numrug Reserve

More than 520,000 hectares burned

The blaze began October 8 in the reserve in eastern Mongolia's Dornod province, spreading through grassland. The state-run Montsame News Agency said crews brought it under control October 12 and finished extinguishing it October 16.

Preliminary figures released around October 20, 2026, by Mongolia's Ministry of Environment and Climate Change put the total burned area at 528,765.5 hectares. Within the reserve, 468,965.7 hectares burned, accounting for 79.8 percent of its area.

Mongolia mobilized 60 firefighting teams across three provinces, with 606 rescuers and 100 units of equipment. China also sent more than 3,400 rescue personnel to fight the fire along a border extending hundreds of kilometers.

Numrug contains larch, birch and Siberian pine forests and is home to wildlife including Mongolian gazelles and Siberian ibex. Montsame described the reserve as vital to the country's natural landscapes, ecological balance and biodiversity.

Differing accounts of the visit

KDDI said Mobicom head Yasuhiro Ochi and two other executives were in the reserve when the fire occurred. The company said it takes the significant damage to Mongolia's natural environment "extremely seriously."

In its October 23, 2026 statement, KDDI described a visit from October 6 to 8 at the request of Mongolia's Border Ports Administration. It said Mobicom employees went to attend the opening ceremony for a completed communications network and check the quality of its 4G service. The fire occurred while the group was traveling by vehicle on the last day.

The company said the group had permission to enter, had alerted border security agencies beforehand and traveled along a predetermined route. Several Mongolian media outlets nevertheless questioned whether the visitors had other purposes, including hunting or catching endangered fish species.

Local media reports described more than 10 people, including several Japanese nationals, entering the reserve on October 8 in five vehicles from Mobicom. KDDI's statement gave a different breakdown: seven Mobicom employees, including two drivers, traveled in two company-owned vehicles, with three Border Ports Administration vehicles positioned ahead of and behind them. KDDI said Ochi was the only Japanese national present and was riding in a vehicle driven by a Mobicom employee.

Fire investigation and compensation

Mongolian media reported that a vehicle caught fire and ignited the surrounding area. KDDI's statement described smoke appearing beneath a vehicle carrying Mobicom employees during a stop on October 8.

According to KDDI, tall grass and rough terrain required slow travel, and crews stopped every 20 to 30 minutes to remove dry grass from beneath the vehicles. The smoke was noticed during one of those stops. The company said efforts to fight the fire under the authorities' direction failed to prevent it from spreading into nearby grass.

KDDI said Mongolian authorities were still investigating the cause and circumstances. It also said it had confirmed that Mobicom employees committed no other legal violations connected with the incident and would not comment further pending the official investigation.

Mongolia's minister of justice and internal affairs, Temuulen Ganzorig, said those involved, together with personnel from the relevant border-port administrations, would be held accountable and required to compensate for the losses.

The Ministry of Environment and Climate Change has begun a comprehensive assessment of the fire's ecological and environmental damage.