Portugal mourns amid battle against wildfires

More than 1,000 firefighters were still battling on June 19 a giant forest fire that swept through central Portugal at the weekend, killing at least 62 people.

The country was in mourning after the deadliest such disaster in Portugal’s recent history, with many victims burnt as they were trapped in their cars.

“The fire has reached a level of human tragedy that we have never seen before,” said a visibly moved Prime Minister Antonio Costa, who announced three days of mourning from June 18.

Portugal’s national route 236 was transformed into a road of hell as the ferocious blaze ripped through the wooded countryside around the epicenter in Pedrogao Grande.

Although the searing temperatures in Portutal had dropped slightly on June 19, the fire was still raging, spreading to neighboring regions of Castelo Branco and Coimbra.

Firefighters were continuing a grim search for bodies, with Costa warning on June 18 that the death toll could still rise.

Police chief Almeida Rodrigues blamed dry thunderstorms for the blaze which broke out on June 17 in Pedrogao Grande, saying a tree had been struck by lightning.

“Everything burnt very quickly given the strong winds. The flames passed within two or three kilometres of my house,” said local resident Isabel Ferreira, 62.

“I knew several of the victims. One of my colleagues lost her mother and her four-year-old girl as she could not get them out of the back of the car.”

The expanse of wooded hills in the area north of Lisbon, which 24 hours before had glowed bright green with eucalyptus plants and pine trees, was gutted by the flames.

A thick layer of white smoke blanketed either side of a motorway for about 20 kilometres on June 18, as blackened trees leaned listlessly over charred soil.