At least 40 people have been reported dead in the worst deadly forest fires which hit Portugal yesterday, most of the victims were said to have been trapped in their cars.
Almost 60 people, including several children, have also been injured as temperatures topped 40C yesterday and making it one of the nation’s deadliest fire tragedies.
Four firefighters and a child were described as “seriously hurt”.
More than 50 fires are said to be burning across the country involving about 2,000 firefighters after intense heat combined with strong winds to fan the flames.
Fernando Lopes, head of the town hall in Castanheira de Pera near the central Portuguese city of Leiria close to where many people were killed after being trapped in their cars on a rural road, said: “This is a catastrophic situation. It is chaotic.
“Many houses have been burnt down in several localities but we do not know yet for sure how many.”
The fire broke out in the nearby municipality of Pedrogao Grande yesterday afternoon and spread rapidly in a way which interior ministry official Jorge Gomes said had been “inexplicable”.
The fire, which has yet to be controlled, is already one of the deadliest forest fires in Portugal in decades.
At least 16 people died in their vehicles, while others were killed from smoke inhalation next to a cemetery.
Portuguese president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa visited the scene of the tragedy overnight and was pictured in an emotional embrace with his minister Jorge Gomes.
Prime Minister Antonio Costa called the tragedy “the worst loss of human life we’ve known in recent years”.
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