- Title: Chilean firefighter and a forest official linked to wildfires that killed 130
- Date: 27th May 2024
- Summary: BOGOTA, COLOMBIA (MAY 25, 2024) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF COLOMBIA’S FOREIGN MINISTER, LUIS GILBERTO MURILLO, DURING INTERVIEW (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) COLOMBIA’S FOREIGN MINISTER, LUIS GILBERTO MURILLO, SAYING: “I think we must keep insisting Israel to abide by (the law) and, above all, insisting a lot not only in front of the government of (Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin) Net
- Embargoed: 10th June 2024 20:50
- Keywords: Chile environment fire firefighter investigation police suspect victims
- Location: VARIOUS LOCATIONS, CHILE
- City: VARIOUS LOCATIONS, CHILE
- Country: Chile
- Topics: Disaster/Accidents,Fires,South America / Central America
- Reuters ID: LVA00D597427052024RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: A volunteer firefighter and a Chilean forestry official have been formally accused by prosecutors of involvement in setting wildfires that engulfed central Chile this past February, killing over 130 people.
Implicated so far is volunteer firefighter Francisco Ignacio Mondaca, along with Francisco Pinto, an official from Chile's National Forestry Corporation (CONAF), part of the Agriculture ministry that is responsible for preventing forest fires.
The prosecutor's office in Valparaiso, a coastal city close to areas hardest hit by the fires, said on Saturday (May 25) that both suspects were in pre-trial detention.
Attorneys for the two men could not immediately be reached.
Authorities say Mondaca, the firefighter, carried out the plot while citing the CONAF official as the mastermind behind it.
Prosecutors said they had access to evidence that shows Mondaca and Pinto acted deliberately and that they had knowledge about the optimal weather conditions to start fires.
The fires were the worst natural disaster to strike the South American nation since the 2010 earthquake and tsunami that left more than 500 dead.
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