At least 19 dead in Chile forest fires, with hundreds of homes threatened by almost 100 active blazes
- The blazes are concentrated in the Vina del Mar and Valparaiso tourist regions, where they have ravaged tens of thousands of hectares and forced people to flee
- Chilean President Gabriel Boric has decreed a state of emergency “due to catastrophe, in order to have all the necessary resources’
At least 19 people have died in forest fires raging near Chile’s coast, Interior Minister Carolina Toha said on Saturday, warning the toll was likely to climb higher.
Fifteen of the 19 victims “have already been identified”, Toha said, adding that there were 92 active fires, with 43,000 hectares (106,000 acres) burned across the country.
Firefighters were battling the blazes which were threatening hundreds of homes, prompting the president to declare a state of emergency.
The blazes are concentrated in the Vina del Mar and Valparaiso tourist regions, where they have ravaged thousands of hectares of forest, cloaked coastal cities in a dense fog of grey smoke and forced people to flee their homes.
Preliminary information earlier had said that several people had died, “around 10”, said Sofia Gonzales Cortes, state representative for the central region of Valparaiso.
In the towns of Estrella and Navidad, southwest of the capital, the fires burned nearly 30 homes, and forced evacuations near the surfing resort of Pichilemu.