At least 13 people died on Friday in more than 200 forest fires in central Chile, authorities said, declaring a state of calamity in several regions of the country.
“We regret a total of 13 deaths,” said the deputy director of Chile’s Disaster Prevention and Attention Service, Mauricio Tapia.
The previous balance counted seven fatalities. Chilean authorities said 22 people were injured, eight of them seriously, adding that 204 active fires have already razed more than 40,000 hectares and completely destroyed 97 homes.
More than 2,300 firefighters are being deployed to fight the fires, they added. These fires are occurring during an extreme heat wave with temperatures hovering around 40ºC (degrees Celsius).
Chilean President Gabriel Boric suspended his vacation and will travel to the city of Concepción, in the Biobío region, and then to the Ñuble region, according to a message posted on Boric’s page on the social network Twitter.
The Chilean Prosecutor’s Office announced the arrest of two people linked to the fires in the Biobío and La Araucanía regions, 700 kilometers south of the capital, Santiago.
Source: TSF
