The multiple forest fires that continue to rage in central Chile, where an intense heat wave is raging, have left 24 dead and 1,182 injured, according to a new report released Sunday by the authorities.
Fanned by moderate to strong winds and temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius, the fires devastated some 270,000 hectares and destroyed 1,081 homes in five days, authorities said.
The death toll “rose to 24 dead, after the death of a person who was hospitalized in Angol”, located in the region of La Araucanía”, Interior Undersecretary Manuel Monsalve said on Sunday. »
The government has declared a state of disaster in several central regions.
This agricultural and forest region is reduced to scenes of desolation with plots reduced to ashes, animals lying lifeless and inhabitants who have lost everything.
“It was hell,” laments Agence France-Presse (AFP) Maria Ines, a resident of Santa Juan, located in the Biobio region.
A neighbor “entered the fire to look for his animals, but he never reappeared, Don Antón. I yelled at him to get out of the fire, but he wouldn’t obey me,” Miguel Angel Henriquez, 58, a farmer from Santa Juana, told AFP.
Chilean President Gabriel Boric attended the wake of a volunteer firefighter on Sunday in the town of Coronel, in the Biobio region.
He went again on Sunday to the city of Concepción, 510 km south of Santiago, and visited the ravaged areas.
A drop in temperatures on Sunday morning offered some respite for the 5,300 firefighters battling the blazes.
According to the National Disaster Prevention and Response Service (Senapred), 283 active fires have been recorded, including 71 out of control.
“We are seeing a small improvement in weather conditions on Sunday and Monday. This means that we are not experiencing extremely high temperatures,” said Monsalve, but they could again reach near 40 ºC on Tuesday.
According to him, ten people were arrested, suspected of having played a role in the outbreak of certain fires.
A red alert remains in place in three of the affected regions.
International aid is beginning to take shape with the departure from Spain on Sunday of a plane and 50 soldiers, specialists and drone pilots. Colombia also announced on Twitter to send aid.
The Chilean Foreign Ministry said it is coordinating with Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, the United States and Mexico.