Wildfires race across Chile, leaving 18 dead, forcing thousands to flee

Wildfires raging across central and southern Chile on Sunday left at least 18 people dead, scorched thousands of acres of forest and destroyed hundreds of homes, authorities said, as the South American country swelters under a heat wave.

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Chilean President Gabriel Boric declared a state of catastrophe in the country’s central Biobio region and the neighboring Nuble region, around 500 kilometers south of Santiago, the capital.