Chile: 23 dead in forest fires so far, govt declares state of disaster

Twenty-three people have died so far in forest fires in Chile which broke out on Wednesday (February 1) after a devastating heatwave."We want to mourn the passing of 23 persons," Deputy Interior Minister Manuel Monsalve said on Saturday night (February 5), adding that 979 people have been injured in the fires.Monsalve said 232 wildfires were still active on Saturday, including 16 that began earlier in the day.

Authorities said on Friday that Chile has declared a state of disaster in several central-southern regions, including Nuble and Biobio. The declaration allows extra resources to be made available to combat an emergency, a report by the news agency AFP said.

Mauricio Tapia, the head of the Senaprad national disaster agency, said, “We have to announce that there are 13 deaths in total, 11 in the Santa Juana municipality.” On the other hand, Chile's Agriculture Minister Esteban Valenzuela said that two crew members of a helicopter that was fighting the fires died in a crash Friday afternoon.

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"I am very sad about the helicopter crash which killed the pilot and a mechanic who were working to fight the fire," Valenzuela said. Mauricio Tapia later said that the pilot was Bolivian and the mechanic Chilean.

The total death toll also includes at least four civilians and a firefighter previously reported killed, AFP reported. More than 100 homes have been affected and 47,000 hectares of forest were destroyed in the fire. Around 2,300 firefighters and 75 aircraft are working to extinguish the flames.

Interior Minister Carolina Toha said on Friday the aforementioned four civilians had died in the Biobio region, adding two were killed when fires engulfed the road they were travelling on while the other two died in a car accident, presumably while trying to escape the inferno. Authorities later said the firefighter was also killed

Apart from Nuble and Biobio, fires have also affected Maule and La Araucania regions. Nuble has been put on red alert, alongside seven municipalities in Biobio.

(With inputs from agencies)

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