“The number of victims will surely increase in the coming hours,” said Chilean President Gabriel Boric on Saturday, CBS news reports.
Chile’s Interior Minister Carolina Tohá said there were currently 92 forest fires burning in the center and south of the country, where temperatures have been unusually high this week.
The deadliest of the fires were occurring in the region of Valparaíso, where authorities urged people not to leave their homes so that fire engines, ambulances and other emergency vehicles can transit with greater ease.
Tohá did not offer any details about the people killed.
She said that two fires near the towns of Quilpué and Villa Alemana had burnt through at least 8,000 hectares (19,770 acres) since Friday. One of the fires was threatening the coastal resort town of Viña del Mar, where some neighborhoods have already been badly affected.
In Villa Independencia, a hillside neighborhood on the eastern edge of town, several blocks of homes and businesses were completely destroyed. Burnt-out cars with broken windows lined the streets, which were covered in ashes.
MNA/PR
