Infant among five charred to death in Guatemala forest fire
Guatemala City, Apr 4 (EFE).- A seven-month-old baby and four women were charred to death in a forest fire that engulfed an indigenous Guatemalan town, authorities said on Monday.
Firefighters said the blaze erupted in the San Pedro Jocopilas municipality of the Quiché province, about 150 km northwest of Guatemala City,
National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction (Conred) also confirmed the death of the five victims.
The disaster management agency said firefighters brought the blaze under control.
The bodies of the five women were found Monday afternoon in the Patzcamán village.
Mario Upún, a member of the Departmental Municipal Firefighters, told reporters that the women had started the fire on the part of the land they owned.
The flames got out of their control before they tried to put them out, Upún said.
On Mar.30, another four people died, including a minor, and five more suffered severe burn injuries due to a forest fire in the indigenous Totonicapán province in northwestern Guatemala.
On Mar.28, Guatemala recorded the first death of the current forest fire season, which runs from Nov.2021 to Apr.2022.
The deceased was a firefighter trying to put out a forest fire in the department of Quiché, 250 km north of the Guatemalan capital.
The Central American country has recorded more than 340 similar incidents nationwide in the current forest fire season.
According to various state sources, more than 95 percent of the fires recorded in Guatemala are caused intentionally. EFE
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