No fewer than 18 people have died as multiple wildfires rage across South Korea's southeastern region, with thousands of firefighters aided by the military deployed in a bid to contain one of the country's worst forest fires in decades.
The government said that the deadly wildfires have spread rapidly and forced more than 27,000 residents to flee their homes.
The blazes, fuelled by strong winds and dry weather, have reportedly razed entire neighbourhoods, closed schools and forced authorities to transfer hundreds of inmates from prisons.
“We are deploying all available personnel and equipment in response to the worst wildfires ever but the situation is not good,” Acting President Han Duck-soo said, adding that the US military in Korea was also assisting.
According to the Safety Ministry, as of Wednesday at 5 a.m. (2100 GMT), 14 people had died in a wildfire starting from Uiseong county, while four other deaths were linked to another fire from Sancheong county.
A local police official, Son Chang-ho, said many of those who had perished were aged in their 60s and 70s.
A forest disaster expert at the National Institute of Forest Science, Lee Byung-doo, said the Uiseong fire, only 68% contained and exacerbated by gusty winds, shows unimaginable scale and speed.
The Safety Ministry added that dry conditions were expected to persist in the wildfire-hit region on Wednesday.
