Twenty-two people were killed and at least three severely burned in a grassland fire yesterday in the Tibetan populated Ganzi prefecture in Sichuan province .
Of the fatalities, 15 were soldiers, two were workers with the grassland administration while five others were local residents, officials said. At least four local residents were injured, including three who were severely burned.
The wildfire was raging through a grassland atop a plateau some six kilometres from the county government seat in Daofu county. About 500 mu (33.3 hectares) of the grassland had been burned, while 200 mu was still on fire last night, Xinhua said.
The fire broke out at noon yesterday and was brought under control at about 3pm. However, gusting winds boosted the flames and trapped people fighting the fire, officials said.
The cause of the fire remains unknown. The death toll is one of the highest in a grassland fire on the mainland in recent years.
Sichuan governor Jiang Jufeng arrived in Ganzi to oversee the rescue work last night.