Death toll from forest fires in Chile rises to 131

BOGOTA

The death toll from forest fires raging in the central and southern parts of Chile rose to 131, according to local authorities on Wednesday.

Wildfires are ongoing in the cities of Valparaiso and Vina del Mar, Chilean Legal Health Service said in a statement.

Efforts to extinguish the fires continue relentlessly from both the air and the ground, the statement noted.

Macarena Ripamonti, the mayor of Vina del Mar, told journalists that they were grappling with an “unprecedented” disaster, estimating that nearly 300 people were missing.

While debris removal efforts continue in areas devastated by the fire, thousands of people gathered in the capital city of Santiago to participate in relief campaigns.

Some 20,000 hectares of land had turned to ash in just the past three days, the National Disaster Prevention and Response Service said in a statement.

*Writing by Zehra Nur Duz in Ankara