Portugal in mourning as scores of people die in raging wildfires
PORTUGAL has declared three days of national mourning after 61 people were killed in raging forest fires.
Many of those who died were trapped in their cars as huge flames swept over a road amid intense fires. Prime Minister Antonio Costa described it as “the biggest tragedy” the country has experienced in years.
Two Britons who were injured in the fires received treatment for smoke inhalation and have been discharged from hospital.
A lightning strike is believed to have sparked the initial blaze in the Pedrogao Grande area after investigators found a tree that was hit during a “dry thunderstorm”.
Such storms are frequent when falling water evaporates before reaching the ground because of high temperatures.
Authorities had previously said that temperatures which have soared to 40C in recent days might have played a part in the inferno, centred about 95 miles north-east of the capital Lisbon. ers and a child with serious
Interior Ministry official wounds. Jorge Gomes said 59 people died More than 350 soldiers have from the flames and suffocating joined the 700 firefighters who smoke, while another two people have been struggling to put out perished in a traffic accident related the flames since Saturday. to the fires. A huge wall of thick smoke
Another 54 people have been and bright red flames could at injured, including four firefightthe one point be seen towering over tree-tops near houses in the wooded region.
Local television showed terrifying images of several people on a road trying to escape the intense smoke that had reduced visibility to just a few metres.
Mr Gomes said at least 30 of those killed were in vehicles engulfed by flames on a road between the towns of Figueiro dos Vinhos and Castanheira de Pera.
He added that firefighting crews are having difficulties battling the flames, which are “very violent” on at least two of the four fronts.
A Spanish firefighting aircraft has been assisting and another was expected to arrive yesterday, while France is also sending three aircraft.
In a tweet yesterday, Mr Costa sent his “deepest regret for the victims... and a word of encouragement and strength for all who help combat this scourge”.
Such loss of life due to a forest fire is the biggest in memory in Portugal.
It has been over 50 years since 25 Portuguese soldiers perished fighting wildfires in 1966.