Wind-driven wildfires that were among South Korea’s worst ever have ravaged the country’s southern regions, killing 24 people, destroying more than 200 structures and forcing 27,000 residents to evacuate, officials said yesterday.
The death toll included a pilot who died after a helicopter crashed during efforts to contain a blaze in the southeastern town of Uiseong, one of the hardest-hit areas.
The aircraft had no other crew members.
Photo: AFP
Police said that most of the dead were in their 60s or 70s.
The South Korean National Fire Agency said at least 26 people sustained varying degrees of injuries.
An ancient Buddhist temple, houses, factories and vehicles were destroyed in the wildfires, which had burned 17,535 hectares, the government’s emergency response center said.
In a televised address, Acting South Korean President Han Duck-soo said that the wildfires that began on Friday last week were worse than many previous ones.
“Damage is snowballing,” Han said. “There are concerns that we’ll have wildfire damages that we’ve never experienced, so we have to concentrate all our capabilities to put out the wildfires in the rest of this week.”
Han said that crews struggled to extinguish the wildfires because strong winds swept the areas overnight.
He also said about 4,650 firefighters, soldiers and other personnel were working yesterday with the help of about 130 helicopters, adding that “a small amount” of 5mm to 10mm of rain was expected today.
As of Wednesday evening, firefighters were tackling at least four wildfires, including in the southeastern coastal town of Yeongdeok, which alerted residents of the nearest village to evacuate to an indoor gymnasium.
Strong winds and smoke-filled skies forced authorities in the southeastern city of Andong to order evacuations from two villages, including Puncheon, home to the Hahoe folk village — a UNESCO World Heritage Site founded in the the 14th or 15th century.
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