'We are broken': Wildfires on Chile's coast kill 64 people and leave hundreds missing

Days after devastating wildfires ravaged Chile's Pacific coast, officials said Sunday that at least 64 people had died and hundreds were still missing. They warned that the number of deaths could rise exponentially.

“That number will rise, we know it will rise significantly,” President Gabriel Boric said on Sunday, describing the fires as the country's worst disaster since a devastating earthquake in 2010 killed and displaced more than 400 people. 1.5 million.

Thousands of homes were destroyed by the fires that swept through the coastal hills towards the seaside resort of Viña del Mar from Friday, driven by strong winds.

The fires started while many were on holiday in Viña del Mar in the country's Valparaíso region, and tore through hillside settlements where many elderly residents were unable to escape.

Omar Castro Vázquez, whose home in the El Olivar settlement was destroyed, said a neighbor in his 80s had died in the fire.

“It looked more like an atomic bomb than a fire,” said Mr. Castro, 72. “There is nothing left.”

The devastation in Valparaíso comes as dozens of fires rage across central and southern Chile amid what officials say are higher-than-normal temperatures for this time of year.

Several other countries in South America have also struggled to control forest fires. In Colombia, fires broke out in several parts of the country in recent weeks, including around the capital Bogotá, amid a period of dry weather.

Firefighters have also battled fires in Ecuador, Venezuela and Argentina.

The cyclical climate phenomenon known as El Niño has caused droughts and high temperatures in parts of the continent, creating conditions that experts say are ripe for wildfires.

At sunrise Sunday morning, bands of smoke hung from the hills above Viña del Mar. Along the highway to the coast, embankments and bridges were charred and tree stumps smoldered on the hills. The charred husks of cars littered the roads.

Early signs point to flawed evacuation orders, which some residents say may have contributed to the number of casualties.

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Mr Castro Vázquez of El Olivar said residents had fled to a local square when a mobile alarm came in around 6pm on Friday. They were given no further instructions to flee, he said.

Black smoke rose over a hill from a botanical garden on the other side of the hill, he said, and within minutes their community was engulfed in tall orange flames.

Another resident, Andrés Calderón, 40, said several people in the neighborhood did not want to leave their homes for fear that thieves would break into their homes.

On Friday, he got the warning, jumped in his car and drove through smoke so thick he said he had to turn on his headlights.

“It was like entering hell,” Mr. Calderón said. “I couldn't see it, the wind almost blew the car off the road. I just kept driving.”

On Sunday, the densely built-up area was in ruins. The verges were covered with corrugated iron and rubble pushed into piles, everything was black and smelled of smoke.

Mr. Castro, a retired dock worker, said he had lost all his clothes, belongings, documents and part of his pension, which he had withdrawn and kept in cash.

Residents helped each other remove debris and burned appliances from the shells of homes. Some wore motorcycle gloves, others garden gloves.

“I didn't cry, I didn't come to terms with it. “I just focus on cleaning my house and that of my neighbors,” he said. “Were broken.”

The mayor of Viña del Mar, Macarena Ripamonti, said at a press conference on Sunday morning that 372 people were missing on Saturday evening. She said officials would ensure the bodies of those who died in the fires were removed as quickly as possible.

“They are our neighbors, they are our family, they are our friends, they are people from Viña del Mar. That moves the population,” she said. “People are living in the worst situation.”

Natalie Alcoba reported from Buenos Aires.