At least 99 people have died, and hundreds are missing, in a series of massive forest fires in Chile.
At least 1,600 people have also been left without homes as a result of the forest fires that have raged in the central region of the country since they began several days ago.
The fires broke out on the outskirts of the coastal city of Vina del Mar, which is located about 75 miles (122 kilometers) west of the capital, Santiago, and is home to about 300,000 people, and near Valparaiso.
Several neighborhoods on the eastern edge of Vina del Mar have already been destroyed, while 200 people are reported missing from the city and surrounding areas.
A cadastral view showing the remains of burned homes after forest fires in Vina del Mar. Photo: Reuters
Local residents clean up the rubble of burned houses. Photo: AP
The fire also destroyed a famous botanical garden founded in 1931.
On Sunday afternoon, Chile's forensic service said at least 99 people had died.
“We regret the unfolding tragedy and send our condolences to the affected families,” the agency said in a statement posted on its website.
Chile's national flag flies amid forest fires. Photo: Reuters
On Sunday morning, Chilean President Gabriel Boric visited the town of Quilpe, east of Viña del Mar.
He warned that the country was facing a “very big tragedy.”
Buric, who declared two days of national mourning, warned that the death toll could rise as rescue workers searched collapsed homes.
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Rodrigo Mundaka, governor of the Valparaíso region, where Vina del Mar and the other affected cities are located, said on Sunday that he believed some of the fires may have been started intentionally.
“These fires started at four points that burned simultaneously,” Mundaka said.
“As authorities, we will have to work hard to find who is responsible.”
A resident flees an encroaching forest fire in Vina del Mar. Pic: AP
Residents evacuated on a motorcycle. Photo: AP
Firefighters spray water on homes while wildfires burn nearby. Photo: AP
The fires around Vina del Mar started in mountainous, hard-to-reach areas, but have spread to the city's densely populated outer neighborhoods, despite attempts by Chilean authorities to slow the fire's advance.
The country is currently facing a heat wave with temperatures reaching 30 degrees Celsius, and strong winds are intensifying forest fires.
At its peak, there were more than 230 wildfires.
Over the past two months, the El Niño weather pattern has caused droughts and higher temperatures in western South America, which has also increased the risk of wildfires.
In January, more than 42,000 acres (17,000 hectares) of forest in Colombia were destroyed by fires that followed several weeks of dry weather.
