Wildfire kills 4 in northwestern Pakistan

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - A massive fire raged through an high-altitude forest in northwest Pakistan on Saturday, killing at least four people, officials and local media reported.

The wildfire -- the second that the country has suffered in less than two weeks -- engulfed large swathes of forestland in the Shangla district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders neighboring Afghanistan.

Zia-ur-Rehman, the top local official in Shangla, told reporters that the deceased included three women and a minor boy who were caught in wind-whipped blaze.

Their bodies were recovered and transferred to a local hospital.

Footage aired on local broadcaster Dawn News showing giant flames sweeping through the grass and trees as firefighters and local volunteers endeavored to put the fire out.

More teams are being sent to the site as firefighters are struggling to douse the flames due to the mountainous terrain of the affected area, said district Commissioner Rehman.

There was no immediate word on the cause of the fire. However, Amanullah Khan, head of the district's disaster management body, told reporters that several wildfires in recent years were the result of careless picnickers and locals who set bushes alight for cooking of other purposes.

A huge wildfire reportedly erupted after a group of picnickers set bushes on fire, decimating a pine nut forest in the southwestern Balochistan province late last month and killing three people.

Wildfire has also struck at least five other sites in the province, where firefighters backed by the army struggled to extinguish the blaze, which authorities said was fed by an ongoing dry spell and gusty winds.