Chile fires claim more than a hundred lives

(Patria) - At least 112 people have died in the fires raging through parts of central Chile. Authorities have warned that the death toll will rise. Officials also said that 32 bodies have been identified, 38 autopsies have been performed, and 10 bodies are ready to be handed over to families.

The country is facing a tragedy of very large proportions, said the country's president, Gabriel Boric, who warned that the death toll is likely to rise in the coming days.

The forest fires that broke out several days ago are threatening the outer edges of the tourist cities of Viña del Mar and Valparaíso, which together have more than a million inhabitants.

Authorities have imposed a curfew after 9 p.m. in the hardest-hit areas and sent the military to help firefighters stop the spread of the fires, while efforts are being made from the air to tame the flames with water from helicopters.

Boric, announcing two days of national mourning starting Monday, warned of more bad news.

- That number will certainly rise, it will rise significantly. We are all together in the fight against this emergency. The priority is saving lives - Boric said in a televised address to the nation.

The death toll rose from 51 on Saturday to 64 yesterday. Hundreds of people are listed as missing, authorities said, a thousand homes have been damaged, and more than 90 fires are raging across the country.

Although forest fires are not uncommon during the summer in the southern hemisphere, their deadliness makes them the worst national disaster in the country since the 2010 earthquake, in which about a hundred people died.

Last year, after a record heatwave, about thirty people died, and more than 400,000 hectares of land were affected.