CAMINO PORTUGUESE ON MASSIVE FIRE EXPLOSION: At leat 4 teenager have just been found dead in a massive burning farm land community mourns ……
CAMINO PORTUGUESE ON MASSIVE FIRE EXPLOSION: At leat 4 teenager have just been found dead in a massive burning farm land community mourns ……
Four children among 61 killed by deadly Portuguese forest fires with many people ‘trapped and burned to death in their cars’ as they tried to flee
One of the youngsters was named locally as four-year-old Rodrigo Rosario, killed with his uncle Sidel Belchior, after their car was engulfed by flames on a country road near the historic university city of Coimbra.
Sidel, 37, was looking after the Lisbon-born boy while his newly-married parents Ana Cardita Rosario and Belchior Nuno were enjoying their honeymoon in Cape Verde.
Rodrigo’s grannie broke down in tears as she told a Portuguese TV crew that rescuers had found his charred body by the car after a desperate social media appeal for information on his whereabouts by his anguished mum.
The other children are believed to include a four-year-old girl known only as Bianca who is said to have died as she fled with a relative, and two youngsters aged five and six are thought to have died in their car after they were trapped.
The fires, centred around villages in the muncipality of Pedrogao Grande, were blamed by police on a lightning strike during a dry storm at around 3pm yesterday.
Interior Ministry official Jorge Gomes said 59 people died from the flames and suffocating smoke, while another two people died in a traffic accident related to the fires.
The death toll was expected to rise as firefighters and rescue teams reached areas cut off by the flames.
Many people died in their cars while trying to escape the flames in the Pedrógão Grande area, according to government sources.
Two Britons have been caught up in the P fires, receiving minor burns.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: ‘We are in contact with the local authorities regarding the forest fires in central Portugal. We have provided support to a number of British people caught up in the incident and stand ready to support any others who may be affected.’
The two Britons also received treatment for smoke inhalation and have been discharged from hospital.
Foreign Minister Boris Johnson tweeted: ‘Horrified to hear of tragic loss of life in Portugal fires. Thoughts and condolences with our Portuguese friends at this time.’
Prime Minister Antonio Costa called the tragedy ‘the worst loss of human life we’ve known in recent years.’
Survivors told last night how they pulled the young and elderly from their homes in dramatic rescues before trying to reach safety themselves.
Ana Morada, one of 200 people who spent the night at a makeshift shelter at a local football club, said: ‘It was horrible. I had my grandma on the phone surrounded by flames
