At least 51 people have been killed in Chile as intense forest fires in the centre of the country triggered a state of emergency and the authorities warned that the death toll is likely to rise.
“Given the conditions of the tragedy, the number of victims will surely increase in the coming hours,” President Gabriel Boric said in a televised statement on Saturday.
The fires come in the middle of a heatwave and as tens of thousands of Chileans have been heading to the coastal region of Valparaiso for their summer holidays. Traffic snarls on the main highway were hindering the mobility of firefighters and ambulances.
Boric said on Sunday that an overnight curfew was in place to help to “free up the roads for emergency vehicles, but also so that people who must be evacuated can do so as quickly as possible”.
The deputy interior minister announced that at least 51 people were confirmed dead and up to 6,000 homes impacted.
The blaze is being driven by a summer heatwave and drought affecting the southern part of South America caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon.
Credit: aljazeera.com
