Regional Chile battles deadliest wildfires on record as heatwave grips

Chilean firefighters were battling to hold back forest fires on Monday as authorities said hot and dry weather would continue this week, potentially exacerbating what are already the deadliest blazes in the country's recent history.

The fires, which have consumed 270,000 hectares (667,000 acres) of land, have killed 26 people so far in south-central Chile, and already made 2023 the second worst year in terms of hectares burned after the socalled "fire storm" that hit the country in 2017.

The National Forestry Corporation reported that as of Monday morning there were 275 active fires, of which 69 were currently being fought.

"Unity to face the tragedy, unity to rebuild ourselves," President Gabriel Boric wrote on Twitter.

Chile is in the grip of an over decade-long period of dry weather, which the World Meteorological

Trees

Organisation called a "mega drought" last year, adding it was the longest in a thousand years and marked a major water crisis. The heat wave and strong winds have caused a rapid spread of the flames during the Southern Hemisphere summer season.

The country's Interior Minister said on Monday that 11 people so far have been arrested for actions related to the fires, without providing details the na-