At least 13 people died Friday, February 3 in more than 200 forest fires in central Chile, where an intense heat wave is raging, announced the authorities who declared several regions in a state of disaster.
"We deplore 13 dead in total, 11 in the city of Santa Juana
(Biobío region)
, a pilot of Bolivian nationality and a mechanic of Chilean nationality who crashed in a helicopter that was fighting fires"
, declared Mauricio Tapia , Deputy National Director of the National Disaster Prevention and Response Service (Senapred).
The crash of the aircraft occurred in the Galvarino sector, in the region of La Araucanía.
56 fires out of control
Authorities have identified 22 injured, eight of them in serious condition, adding that more than 200 fires have so far devastated more than 40,000 hectares and completely destroyed 97 homes.
Of the 204 active fires, 56 are out of control.
These fires occur during an extreme heat wave with temperatures close to 40ºC, which makes the authorities fear a disaster like that of 2017. That year, a gigantic forest fire had killed 11 people, some 6,000 victims, destroyed more than 1,500 houses and ravaged 467,000 hectares of land.