South Korea wildfires: 'Devastating' outbreak kills at least two dozen people

Key points

The forest fires that exploded in South Korea days ago continue to devastate the southeast parts of the country.
At least 24 people have been killed in fires.
The interim president of South Korea, have Duck-Soo, says that the fires are the “most devastating” in the history of the country.

Wind -driven forest fires that are among the worst of South Korea have devastated the southern regions of the country, killing 24 people, destroying more than 200 structures and forcing 27,000 people to flee.

The death toll included a pilot who died after a helicopter crashed on Wednesday during efforts to contain forest fires in the southeast city of Uiseong, one of the most affected areas.

The plane did not have other crew members.

The National Firefighters Agency said at least 26 people suffered various degrees of injuries.

The trees are burned in the distance as a tombstone is shown in the foreground.

Multiple fires have caused “unprecedented damage,” said the interim president of South Korea. Fountain: AFP / Yasuyoshi Chiba

An old Buddhist temple, houses, factories and vehicles were among the structures destroyed in forest fires that have burned 175 square kilometers, said the Government Emergency Response Center.

In a televised speech, the interim president of South Korea, Han Duck-Soo, said the forest fires that began on Friday caused worse damage that many other past forest fires.

“The damage is snowballs,” said Han.

“There are concerns that we will have damage to forest fires that we have never experienced, so we have to concentrate all our capabilities to publish forest fires in the rest of this week.”

They have said that the teams were struggling to extinguish forest fires because the strong winds swept the areas during the night.

They have said that some 4,650 firefighters, soldiers and other personnel were working on Wednesday to extinguish forest fires with the help of some 130 helicopters.

Sitting people on the floor of an evacuation site.

More than 27,000 people were forced to evacuate due to forest fires. Fountain: AFP / Yasuyoshi Chiba

Thursday was expected “a small amount” of between five and 10 millimeters of rain.

Observers say that the current forest fires are the largest third in South Korea in terms of burned earth.

They have described them as the “most devastating” of South Korea. They are the most mortal in the country.

Officials in several cities and towns of Southeast had ordered the residents to leave on Tuesday while the firefighters fought to contain multiple fires fed by dry winds.

The largest fires were in Andong, the neighboring counties of Uiseong and Sancheong, and the city of Ulsan, according to the Ministry of Interior.

Earlier on Tuesday, the authorities said that the Firefighters had extinguished most of the flames of the largest forest fires in those areas, but the wind and dry conditions allowed the fires to extend again.

But efforts to fight fires were partially suspended during the night as the winds strengthened.

The fire in Uiseong destroyed almost half of more than 30 structures in Gounsa, a temple that was said to be built in the seventh century.

The residual flames burn at the top of the remains while a temple is in the background.

Most of the buildings in the Gounsa temple in Uiseong were burned on the ground during forest fire shoots. Fountain: AFP / Yasuyoshi Chiba

Among the destroyed structures were two “treasures” designated by the State: a pavilion -shaped structure built on a current in 1668 and a structure of the Joseon dynasty built in 1904 to mark the longevity of a king.

The other “treasure” appointed by the state of the temple, a statue of stone Buddha manufactured in the seventh century, moved to a safe place, according to government and Buddhist officials.

A firefighter spraying a hose from the top of a fire truck.

A firefighter who extinguishes the remaining flames after most buildings burned on the ground in a forest fire in the Gounsa temple in Uiseong. Fountain: AFP / Yasuyoshi Chiba

The forest service of Korea said that it had raised its warning of forest fires to the highest “serious” level throughout the country on Tuesday, which requires local governments to assign more workers to the emergency response, they prescribe the entry restrictions for forests and parks, and recommend that military units retain living fire exercises.

The 18 dead include four firefighters and government workers who were killed in Sancheong on Saturday after being caught by rapid movement llamas driven by strong winds, according to officials.

Government officials suspect that human error caused several of the fires, possibly due to the use of fire while cleaning the grass -covered grass in family tombs or sparks of welding work.

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