[Mhiz Rebecca]

A huge forest fire in central Portugal killed at
least 25 people and injured 16 others, most of
them burning to death in their cars, the
government said Sunday.
Several hundred firefighters and 160 vehicles
were dispatched late Saturday to tackle the blaze,
which broke out in the afternoon in the
municipality of Pedrogao Grande before
spreading fast across several fronts.
"Unfortunately this seems to be the greatest
tragedy we have seen in recent years in terms of
forest fires," the visibly moved Prime Minister
Antonio Costa said.
"The number of fatalities could still rise," he said
at the Civil Protection headquarters near Lisbon.
"The priority now is to save those people who
could still be in danger."
Portugal was sweltering under a severe heatwave
Saturday, with temperatures exceeding 40 degrees
Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in several
regions.
Some 60 forest fires broke out across the country
during the night, with around 1,700 firefighters
battling to put them out.
Secretary of State for the Interior Jorge Gomes
said 22 people burned to death in their cars when
they found themselves trapped by flames on the
road between Figueiro dos Vinhos and
Castanheira de Pera.
Three others died from smoke inhalation.
Sixteen people were injured, including five
firefighters. Two of those were seriously injured.
The flames spread "with great violence", moving
out on four fronts, Gomes said.
Dry thunderstorms could have been the cause of
the fatal blaze, according to the prime minister.
A number of villages were affected by the main
fire and evacuation procedures had been put in
place for some of them, Costa added. Officials
were not immediately able to comment on the
extent of the damage.
Spain dispatched two water-bombing planes on
Sunday morning to aid the Portuguese fire service
on the ground, the prime minister said.
Costa said a period of national mourning would be
announced shortly.
President Marcelo Rebelo went to the Leiria
region to meet families of the victims, "sharing
their pain in the name of all the Portuguese
people," he said.
Firefighters did "all they could" when faced with
the blaze, he added.
Dozens of people who fled their homes were
taken in by residents of the nearby municipality
of Ansiao.
"There are people who arrived saying they didn't
want to die in their homes, which were
surrounded by flames," Ricardo Tristao of Ansiao
told reporters.
Portugal was hit by a series of fires last year
which devastated more than 100,000 hectares
(1,000 square kilometres) of the mainland.
Fires on the tourist island of Madeira in August
killed three people, while over the course of 2016
around 40 homes were destroyed and 5,400
hectares of land burned.