A volunteer firefighter and a Chilean forestry official have been formally accused by prosecutors with involvement in setting wildfires that engulfed central Chile this past February, killing over 130 people. - REUTERS
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 Prosecutors in Chile have formally accused a volunteer firefighter and a forestry official
00:06 with involvement in setting deadly wildfires in February.
00:10 Over 130 people died as flames ripped through the central part of the country.
00:15 Authorities allege the firefighter, Francisco Ignacio Mandaca, carried out the plot.
00:22 Superintendent Ivan Navarro said investigators were able to reconstruct his exact moves.
00:33 But the mastermind, authorities allege, was Francisco Pinto, from the part of the Agriculture
00:38 Ministry responsible for preventing forest fires.
00:43 Prosecutor Claudia Peri-Vancic alleges Pinto wanted to make sure he'd keep his job.
00:50 The prosecutor's office said on Saturday both men were in pretrial detention.
00:55 The blazes that broke out on February 2nd were the worst natural disaster to strike
00:59 the South American nation in over a decade.
01:03 Prosecutors say they believe the pair acted deliberately.
01:06 Officials found devices made of cigarettes and matches in each of the four places where
01:10 they started.
01:12 Prosecutors also say the men knew about optimal weather conditions to start fires.
01:17 A prosecutor said in a social media post that authorities could link Mandaca to half a dozen
01:22 other fires in the area.
01:24 Attorneys for the men could not immediately be reached.
01:27 [BLANK_AUDIO]