Nineteen killed in massive China forest fire
31 March, 2020
Eighteen firefighters and one forestry guide died while fighting a huge forest fire in southwestern China, the neighborhood government said Tuesday.
State tv set footage showed large flames shooting into the sky from the mountains above the city of Xichang in Sichuan province, turning the sky orange.
Heavy clouds of smoke billowed above the buildings and roads of the town, which has a population of some 700,000 people.
The blaze started near Xichang in the southwestern province's mountainous Liangshan prefecture at 3:00 pm (0700 GMT) on Monday, "directly threatening the safety of Xichang city", the town government said in a Weibo statement on Tuesday morning.
A lot more than 140 fire engines, four helicopters and almost 900 firefighters have already been sent to tackle the blaze, according to local officials.
Altogether over two thousand emergency staff get excited about rescue efforts to support the blaze and more than 1,200 local persons have been evacuated.
Helicopters were still battling the blaze Tuesday morning.
Several forest fires have broken out in the same prefecture in recent days, reported state news agency Xinhua.
Last April, twenty-seven firefighters were killed in an enormous forest fire in Muli County in the same prefecture. Authorities deployed 700 firefighters to the scene.
Source: www.thejakartapost.com
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