China: LODD's - 17 firefighters, 5 civilians killed in Grassland Fires

At least 22 people have been killed while fighting the grassland fire in the Tibetan mountains, reports Chinese news agency Xinhua.
 
The fire broke out in the Daofu Qinghai-Tibetan plateau, 580 kilometers from Chengdu (Sichuan province) Sunday afternoon.

More than 2 thousand people were engaged in putting out the fire that engulfed over 46 hectares of grazing land.
According to reports, during the fire fighting 15 soldiers, two officers from the county forestry administration and five local residents were killed. Another three people were hospitalized in serious condition.

The county Daofu is home to about 45,000 people, the vast majority of them are Tibetans.

Cause of fire is yet to be clarified by the officials. Moreover, according to media reports in recent weeks various parts of China often have seen wild fires, which the experts attribute to characteristic of dry weather this winter season.

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