19 killed in massive forest fire in Sichuan

BEIJING • A forest fire that is threatening a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) storage site and two petrol stations has killed 18 firefighters and one forestry guide in south-west China's Sichuan province, city officials said yesterday.

The fire started on Monday afternoon at a farm and spread to nearby mountains because of strong winds, burning about 1,000ha, China's official Xinhua news agency reported. It did not say how the fire was started.

The fire now directly threatens major facilities in downtown Xichang, including an LPG storage station, two petrol stations, four schools and the city's largest department store, Xichang's city government said on its social media account. Xichang is in the mountainous Liangshan prefecture.

Around 480,000 people live in Xichang city, which is about 340km south-west of the provincial capital Chengdu.

Images and video released by Chinese state media showed smoke and flames creeping towards Xichang, with fire trucks lined up on a street dousing trees to prevent the fire from advancing and burning nearby buildings.

More than 1,200 residents have been evacuated due to the blaze and over 2,000 firefighters have been dispatched to put out the fire, Xinhua said.

Several forest fires have broken out in the same prefecture in recent times, Xinhua said.

Last April, 27 firefighters were killed in a huge forest fire in Muli county in the same Liangshan prefecture. The authorities deployed 700 firefighters to the scene.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE