The death toll from forest fires, which ravaged swathes of land in central Portugal in recent days, has risen to 43 after the discovery of another corpse, authorities said Thursday.
The latest grim discovery was made near a hospital in the central city of Coimbra, which was badly hit by the fires which broke out on Sunday and were largely controlled on Tuesday, with the help of rain and calmer winds.
"The toll has been revised upwards, we currently have 43 dead," said Jorge Dias, spokesman for the country's civil protection agency.
It was the second time Portugal has been hit by deadly forest fires in four months.
In June, 64 people died in the central Pedrogao Grande region, in what were the deadliest wildfires in the country's history.
On Wednesday, interior minister Constanca Urbano de Sousa resigned over the government's handling of the problem.
According to the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) some 280,000 hectares of Portuguese land have already gone up in smoke this month.
Another four people have been killed in forest fires in northern Spain.
source: AFP
GMT 08:42 2017 Saturday ,21 October
Portugal forest fires death toll rises to 44GMT 17:20 2017 Monday ,17 April
5 confirmed dead in small plane crash in PortugalGMT 16:25 2017 Monday ,17 April
5 killed, 4 injured in plane crash in PortugalGMT 02:26 2017 Wednesday ,05 April
At least 4 people killed in factory explosion in N. PortugalMaintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2023 ©
Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2023 ©