May 26, 2024 – 11:04 pm
Big fire last year – Photograph: Javier Torres/AFP
Chilean prosecutors have formally charged a volunteer firefighter and a Chilean forest official with causing wildfires that swept through central Chile in February, killing more than 130 people. Reuters reports.
One of the accused is Francisco Ignacio Mundaka, a volunteer firefighter, and the other is Francisco Pinto, an official with Chile's National Forestry Association (CONAF). The latter organization is also responsible for preventing forest fires. Both are in pre-trial detention.
According to authorities, firefighter Mundaka was the one who carried out the arson, and a CONAF official was the mastermind. It is not clear how they benefited from the fire.
Prosecutors say Moncada and Pinto acted intentionally and knew exactly when the weather was perfect to start the fires.
“They agreed to work together when weather conditions are right to start a fire,” Valparaiso regional prosecutor Claudia Perivancic told reporters. Mundaka has been linked to six previous fires in the area.
The forest fires that broke out in February are the worst natural disaster to hit the South American country since the 2010 earthquake and tsunami that killed more than 500 people.
