At least 24 dead so far in wildfires in Chile Iran’s religious leader has pardoned tens of thousands of prisoners

The death toll in Chile’s fierce forest fires has risen to at least 24. An injured person died in hospital from his burns, the Interior Ministry said on Sunday (local time).

In addition, nearly 1,200 people were injured in the center and south of the country and about 800 homes destroyed by the flames, Deputy Minister Manuel Monsalve said. By evening (local time), civil defense had counted 283 fires, of which 151 were under control.

President Gabriel Boric canceled his holiday and traveled to one of the affected regions. There he first took part in the vigil for a firefighter who had been killed in action. He paid tribute to the work of the firefighters and promised reconstruction aid for those affected. “Saving lives and extinguishing the fires is a priority at the moment,” stressed the head of state in the village of Purén in the Araucania region.

The causes of the fires were initially unclear. The great heat with temperatures around 40 degrees in the regions of Ñuble, Bío Bío and Araucania made extinguishing work more difficult. It is midsummer in the South American country. According to the Interior Ministry, 10 people have so far been arrested for deliberately setting fires. They risk between 5 and 20 years in prison, Deputy Interior Minister Monsalve said.

A 50-strong team from Spain’s Military Emergency Unit (UME) arrived on Sunday to help fight the fires. In total, thousands of firefighters and dozens of aircraft are deployed. The Chilean government had asked for international help. (aeg/sda/dpa)