Bushfire kills 32 in Mozambique
Bushfire kills 32 in Mozambique
5 September 2008
published by www.apanews.net
Mozambique — Some 32 people have perished in Mozambiques central regions following uncontrolled bushfires that have also destroyed 16,000 hectares of farmland and crops since Monday, a Mozambican relief agency said here on Friday.
The Director of the National Disaster Management Institute (INGC), Joao Ribeiro, told APA in an interview that the bushfires, driven by strong winds of up to 50 km/h and aided by high temperatures and dry grass, swept through the provinces of Manica, Sofala and Zambezia destroying 722 houses, four schools and 239 silos, while scores of domestic and wild animals were burnt to ashes and leaving 2,805 people without homes.
Thirty-two people were killed on Monday and Tuesday when uncontrolled bushfires gutted the central province of Manica, Zambezia and Sofala, said Ribeiro.
He said since the bus fires were sweeping traveling so fast that many people were burnt to ashes, while some were caught sleeping in their homes and could not run away.
