YINCHUAN (XINHUA) - Two people have died and six injured after a forest fire broke out in north-west China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, local authorities said Sunday (March 14).

The fire started at around midnight Saturday at a barren hill in Machang village in the city of Guyuan, according to the regional department of emergency management.

By 4.40pm Saturday, the fire scorched around 33.3 ha of land. Nearly 300 people including police officers, emergency response personnel, firefighter and armed police troops had been mobilised to extinguish the fire. The deaths and injuries were caused during the process.

By 8.10am Sunday, the fire had been put out.