At least 23 people were killed and about a thousand injured in hundreds of wildfires that engulfed south-central Chile over the weekend.
The deadly fires came amid a heat wave across the region, a senior government official said.
“We want to mourn the loss of 23 people,” Deputy Interior Minister Manuel Monsalve said, adding that 979 people were injured in the fires.
Monsalve said 232 wildfires were still active on Saturday, including 16 that started earlier in the day.
The government of President Gabriel Boric has extended the state of distress to the southern region of Araucanía. The regions of Nublé and Biobio were already under the threat of natural disaster.
The move allows Boric to mobilize the military to help put out the fires as the death toll continues to rise.
Temperatures soared to 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), hampering efforts to contain the fires, many of which are out of control.
Boric, who cut short his vacation to rush to the city of Concepción, 510 kilometers (320 miles) south of the capital Santiago, tweeted that he would continue to work “to fight the wildfires and help families.”
Boric said Argentina offered to send firefighters and equipment.
Blame it on climate change
Interior Minister Carolina Toja said Brazil, Uruguay, Mexico and Spain have also offered help.
“We are becoming one of the (nations) most vulnerable to fires, mainly due to the evolution of climate change,” Toha said.
According to her, fires, which seemed extreme three years ago, are becoming more common every year.
Earlier, authorities said that ten of them died in the city of Santa Juana in the province of Concepción.
The fires have destroyed at least 88 homes and engulfed 47,000 hectares (116,000 acres) of forest, officials said.
Santa Juana Mayor Ana Albornoz said the fires hit the town hard because “the terrain is very rugged and the roads are bad.”
“We have a very small population, one person lives on top of one hill and another person lives on another, and the urban areas are overcrowded,” she said.
Among the dead were two crew members of the helicopter fighting the fire, who died in the crash on Friday afternoon, officials said.
One firefighter was killed while putting out the fire and eight others were injured.
In total, about 2,300 firefighters and 75 aircraft are deployed in the region.
The heat wave raised fears of a repeat of 2017, when widespread fires in the same region killed 11 people and destroyed 1,500 homes.
Turkey expresses condolences
Turkey, meanwhile, offered its condolences to Chile for the loss of life in the deadly forest fires.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of life and injuries as a result of the forest fires that broke out in Chile,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
“We express our sincere condolences to the friendly people and government of Chile, as well as to the families of the victims, and wish a speedy recovery to the injured.”
