Firefighters in China on Tuesday contained a massive fire that killed 30 people and engulfed around 15 hectares of forest in mountains of Sichuan province, local authorities said.
Local authorities have dispatched more than 600 people to quench the blaze which broke out at around 6 pm on Saturday at a remote spot in the mountains at an altitude of over 3,700 meters.
Thirty people, including 27 firefighters and three locals, lost their lives while fighting the fire, authorities said.
The fire in Muli County, in the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture was contained by Tuesday afternoon, the state-run Xinhua news agency said.
"However, there are still areas that are burning. Due to complex terrain, we need more time to extinguish the fire," said Wu Song, county chief of Muli, Sichuan's Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture.
"We're ready to increase precipitation artificially," Wu said.
Five helicopters have also been deployed to help in firefighting efforts, said Tang Yi, head of safety enforcement at Liangshan Prefecture at a press conference on Tuesday.
Local authorities lost contact with the 30 victims on Sunday afternoon after a sudden change in wind direction ignited a "huge fireball", authorities previously said.
Chinese authorities on late Monday also issued a red alert — the highest level — warning of forest fires in the northern areas of Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and Shanxi.
