South Korea's worst-ever wildfires kill dozens and displace almost 40,000

By Linda Bordoni

The country’s worst-ever wildfires, which engulfed a forest on Thursday, have destroyed thousands of homes, infrastructure, places of worship and vehicles.

The multiple wildfires, fueled by strong winds and dry weather, have been raging across South Korea's southeastern regions since last Friday.

The government has mobilized thousands of personnel, dozens of helicopters and other equipment to extinguish the blazes, but the wind is hampering their efforts.

Light rain is expected, but metereologists say it probably won't help much in extinguishing the blazes.

Amongst the victims is the pilot of a helicopter that crashed during efforts to contain a fire Wednesday and four firefighters and other workers who died earlier after being trapped by fast-moving flames.

Authorities, who suspect human error may have caused several of the wildfires, say most of the civilians who died were elderly or people who found it difficult to escape quickly or who even refused orders to evacuate.

In Cheongsong, a Buddhist temple is at risk of burning. In the southeast, two villages, including  Puncheon, home to a UNESCO World Heritage Site founded around the 14th century, was ordered to evacuate. In Uiseong, about 20 of the 30 structures at the Gounsa temple complex, which was said to have been originally built in the 7th century, have burnt to the ground. Among them were two state-designated “treasures.”

The deputy head of the government's disaster response center said the wildfires show “the reality of climate crisis that we have yet experienced.”

(Source: AP and other agencies)