A huge forest fire in central Portugal killed at least 25 people and injured 20 others, most of them burning to death in their cars, the government said on Sunday.
Several hundred firefighters and 160 vehicles were dispatched late on Saturday to tackle the blaze, which broke out in the afternoon in the municipality of Pedrogao Grande before spreading fast across several fronts.
“Unfortunately this seems to be the greatest tragedy we have seen in recent years in terms of forest fires,” the visibly moved prime minister Antonio Costa said.
“The number of fatalities could still rise,” he said at the Civil Protection headquarters near Lisbon. “The priority now is to save those people who could still be in danger.”
Portugal was sweltering under a severe heatwave on Saturday, with temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in several regions.
Around 60 forest fires broke out across the country during the night, with 1,700 firefighters battling to put them out…
Source: Portugal: 25 people killed in forest fires northeast of Lisbon | World news | The Guardian
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