At least 30 firefighters have died in China in a wildfire that has ravaged a high-altitude mountainous area in the south-west of the country, the authorities announced on Monday, according to our colleagues at AFP.
Nearly 700 firefighters were deployed on Sunday to tackle a fire that had broken out the previous day at an altitude of around 4,000 metres in Muli County, Sichuan Province, the Ministry of Emergency Management said in a statement.
A "gigantic fireball"
The authorities lost contact with 30 of them in the afternoon, following a sudden change in wind direction, which caused “a massive fireball”, according to the ministry.
Rescue workers sent to the scene have recovered 26 bodies and are continuing their search in an attempt to find the remaining members of the group who are still missing. President Xi Jinping has issued “important instructions” to the security forces and emergency services, the ministry said.