9 dead in Chile's forest fires

Raging forest fires in Chile have claimed nine lives so far, including firefighters, police officers and volunteers, authorities reported on Thursday.

The latest victim of the fires, which have ravaged at least 200,000 hectares of forests and crops in the past two weeks, was a 44-year-old farmer.

The death toll now stands at nine, including three volunteers, a firefighter, two police officers and three farmers.

Fires have strained the capacity of Chile's emergency services, with some 2,000 volunteers joining the firefighting efforts and the government calling for international aid.

Volunteers from Colombia on Thursday helped their local counterparts battle at least 37 different blazes.

The worst forest fire disaster in the country's history, as President Michelle Bachelet described it earlier this week, has spread mainly across southern and central Chile, affecting the regions of Valparaiso, O' Higgins, Maule and Bio Bio, as well as the metropolitan area around the capital.

Argentina, the United States, France, Mexico and now Russia have also offered their support, Bachelet said via Twitter.

Experts have said that extensive planting of pines and eucalyptus trees, in place of native species, has helped create the dry conditions and lack of humidity that have fed the fires.

The country's central region has been suffering from drought for the past six years, and experts say it could be a permanent consequence of climate change.

A government report forecasts temperatures in the capital Santiago will rise by an average of 2.7 degrees Centigrade, while rainfall will decrease by 15 percent by the year 2050.

source: Xinhua