A helicopter fell in La Aracauranía and the bodies of five other fatalities were found in Santa Juana
The number of people deceased in the virulent fires that devastate the center and south of Chile amounted this Friday to 12after the death of two brigade members when the helicopter in which they were traveling collapsed and the discovery of 5 charred bodies in the hard-hit town of Santa Juana.
The Minister of Agriculture, Esteban Valenzuela, explained that the accident took place in the Galvarino commune, in the La Araucanía region, 700 kilometers south of the capital, and said that one of the brigade members was “a Bolivian expert of many years of experience in aeronautics and firefighting”. “There is a swarm of fires, more than 50 between La Araucanía, Biobío and Ñuble, and the smoke screens are very important,” warned the minister, who pointed out that the identity of the second occupant of the aircraft is still unknown.
The other 10 victims died this Friday in the commune of Santa Juana, in the Biobío region and 550 kilometers south of Santiago. According to the Public Ministry, four people lost their lives in two traffic accidents trying to flee the flames while a firefighter suffered a heart attack in the middle of extinction work. The mayoress of the municipality, Ana Albornoz, reported hours later the discovery of another five burned bodies, bringing the death toll to ten, and did not rule out new victims.
unauthorized burning
The regions of Biobío, Ñuble and La Araucanía are the most affected by fires that have already destroyed more than 20,000 hectares and a hundred homes and have caused the eviction of dozens of municipalities. The images are reminiscent of the wave of fires that hit southern Chile in 2017, the most serious to date and in which a dozen people died. The fires coincide with a long drought that has lasted for more than thirteen years and with an unprecedented heat wave in the south, with temperatures that can reach 40 degrees Celsius in southern areas in the next few hours.
The president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, who suspended his vacation in Patagonia this Friday to travel to the areas affected by the fires, said that there are “indications” that some of the fires occurred due to “unauthorized burning”. “There is no authorization to burn garbage or waste or anything,” said the president from the city of Concepción, the capital of Biobío and where he moved in the afternoon. The president acknowledged that the situation is “complex” and asked the public to “act responsibly.” “It is much easier to prevent a fire than to fight it,” he stressed.
The Government declared a State of Constitutional Emergency in Biobío and Ñuble, a measure that allows the Government, among other things, to deliver aid to those affected more expeditiously and mobilize resources in these two regions, with intense agricultural and forestry activity.