CNN
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At least 22 people have died as a result of widespread wildfires in south-central Chile, according to government officials.
Interior Minister Carolina Toha confirmed during a news conference on Saturday that 22 people had been killed. He said there were 1,429 people in shelters, 554 injured and 16 with severe burns, whose condition was critical.
Twenty-eight of the hundreds of fires in Chile in recent days have burned the amount of forest and woodland the country would normally lose, Toha said.
The minister also described record high temperatures in several affected regions of Chile.
“The thermometer has reached a level we have never seen before,” Toha said.
On Saturday, President Gabriel Boric announced via twitter Neighboring Argentina will send firefighters and machinery to tackle the blaze in Chile’s south-central region, according to CNN Chile.
Boric said he had spoken to his Argentine counterpart, Alberto Fernandez, “to thank and coordinate Argentina’s fight against the fire”. Apart from firefighters, we will get machinery.
Boric said he would seek more help from other countries to fight the fire.
“We are arranging support from various countries to face the emergency. We will not leave them alone,” he tweeted.