30 killed as wildfires rage across Portugal and Spain
16 Oct 2017 4:49 PM GMT
Lisbon: At least 27 people have died in fires which have ravaged forests in northern and central Portugal over the past 24 hours, rescuers said on Monday, as three people were killed in Spain in blazes sparked by arsonists and fanned by Hurricane Ophelia.
In Portugal, Prime Minister Antonio Costa declared a state of emergency as more than 4,000 firefighters fought some 20 major fires still raging on Monday.
The 27 deaths, confirmed by Portugal's national civil protection agency, came four months after 64 people were killed and more than 250 injured on June 17, in the deadliest fire in the country's history.
About 520 separate fire outbreaks on Sunday were caused by "higher than average temperatures for the season and the cumulative effect of drought, which has been felt since the start of the year", civil protection agency spokeswoman Patricia Gaspar said.
"We went through absolute hell, it was horrible. There was fire everywhere," a resident of the town of Penacova told RTP television. Two brothers in their 40s who were from her town and were trying to help put out the blaze were among the fatalities. In the northwestern Spanish region of Galicia, on the Portuguese border, authorities were blaming arson for about 17 fires which have caused three deaths.
"They are absolutely intentional fires, premeditated, caused by people who know what they are doing," said Alberto Nunez Feijoo, the head of the Galicia regional government.
On Monday, the "situation remained very worrying", Feijoo said, adding that firefighters along with soldiers and locals were battling the flames.
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