Authorities announced the most recent death toll on Sunday after uncontrolled flames tore through communities in southern Chile, leaving charred ruins in its wake and at least 19 dead.
Strong winds and scorching temperatures have caused fires in the Nuble and Biobio districts, around 500 kilometers (300 miles) south of Santiago, to burn for the past two days, displacing over 50,000 people.
“At 2:30 in the morning, the fire was out of control. There was a whirlwind of fire that consumed the houses in the town below,” Matias Cid, a 25-year-old student in Penco, told AFP.
“We had to leave with the shirts on our back. If we had stayed another 20 minutes we would have burned to death,” he said.
A desolate, deserted cityscape of burned-out pickup trucks, automobiles, and homes can be seen in footage of the aftermath.
According to Mayor Rodrigo Vera, Penco has seen the most of the region’s wildfire casualties thus far.
The picture was equally horrific in nearby Lirquen, a small port town of roughly 20,000 people, where locals reported that the fire spread “in seconds.”
Many locals “were saved from the fire because they ran to the beach,” Alejandro Arredondo, 57, told AFP. “Nothing was left standing.”
On Sunday night, soldiers were walking the streets of Lirquen.
Some locals continued using flashlights to clean rubble or put out fires in violation of a curfew.
*
Email *
Website
