The death toll from wildfires in Portugal and neighboring Spain rose to 45 on Tuesday night as firefighters put the latest fires under control.
Four months after the deadliest fire in the country's history, which claimed the lives of 64 people, conservative Portuguese President Marcelo Hebelo de Souza blamed the socialist government for all the "consequences of the tragedy" and added that "These more than a hundred dead will never leave my mind, they are a huge burden on my conscience and my tenure."
A total of 41 people have died in fires in northern and central Portugal, according to the latest report released yesterday by the Civil Protection.
Two injured succumbed to their burns, while another 14 remain in serious condition, the representative of the Civil Protection clarified. The seven missing people were found, as was an infant who was included in the death toll on Monday.
No new serious fires were reported after Tuesday morning, as firefighters were assisted in their work by the rain that fell overnight. However, more than 3.000 men from the fire brigade remain on alert to intervene if there is a resurgence.
In Galicia, the flames claimed the lives of four people. However, the alarm that had been sounded in the area came on Tuesday morning.
The Spanish government has spoken of an arson plan, while in Portugal, Interior Minister Constanza Urbanu de Souza has denounced the criminal negligence of residents burning dry grass despite the drought.
Since January, more than 3.500.000 acres of vegetation have burned in Portugal, four times the average for the last ten years, according to the European Forest Fire Information System.
In mid-June, the fire that would have had the most tragic end in the history of Portugal, with 64 dead and 250 injured in the area of Pedrogau Grant, 100 km north of Lisbon.
The country has been in mourning for three days since yesterday, while in Brussels the flags of the European Commission are waving at half-mast to pay tribute to the victims of the fires in Spain and Portugal.
Faced with criticism from his political opponents for his government's failure to prevent a new catastrophe, Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa has vowed to move "from words to deeds" and push for "fundamental reforms" in forest management. wealth and firefighting.
The conservative CDS-PP party has filed a motion of censure against the government in Parliament, which, however, the majority of the center-left and left is expected to overcome without difficulty.
Source: TheToc