Odd air cited for Portugal fire’s lethality
LISBON, Portugal — Official reports into Portugal’s deadliest natural disaster in decades have described freak conditions that drove the wildfire that killed 64 people. Also, Portuguese authorities said Thursday that they have contained a second fire that raged for five days close by.
More than 2,000 firefighters and some two dozen water-dropping aircraft fought the two fires for days and nights amid strong winds and temperatures above 104 degrees as the country’s annual wildfire season started earlier than usual. Traditionally, emergency services gear up for major fires from July 1.
Several official investigations are assessing the disaster response, including why 47 of the deaths on Saturday night occurred on a country road as people fleeing the flames in their cars were engulfed by them.
In an initial report at the request of Prime Minister Antonio Costa, the Portuguese weather agency IPMA said the fire spread so quickly because of “exceptional” conditions.
The agency blamed the dynamics of the wildfire itself and atmospheric instability at the time, which created a “downburst” — an unusually strong wind that blows down toward the ground and sprays embers across a broad area.
Taliban claim fatal blast at Afghan bank
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — A suicide car bomb exploded Thursday at a bank in Afghanistan’s Helmand province as Afghan troops and government workers waited to collect their pay ahead of a major Muslim holiday, killing at least 29 people, officials said.
Most of the casualties in the explosion near the bank in the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah were civilians, said provincial Gov. Hayatullah Hayat. At least 60 people were wounded, he said.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack at the Kabul Bank in the southern province, which has been the center of bitter battles between the insurgents and security forces, aided by NATO troops.
The militants, believed to control nearly 80 percent of the province’s countryside, increasingly have been making a push into Lashkar Gah to try to take the city.
Taliban spokesman Qari Yusuf Ahmadi said in an email that the bomb targeted the Afghan security personnel collecting their salaries. He said no civilians were killed, and he gave a higher death toll. But the provincial governor and police chief emphasized that most of the dead were civilians. Witnesses said children were among the wounded.
Quake jars Guatemala, El Salvador
GUATEMALA CITY — A magnitude-6.8 earthquake hit off Guatemala’s Pacific coast Thursday, shaking much of the country and neighboring El Salvador. Local officials said there were initial reports of only minor damage.
The Geological Survey said the 6:31 a.m. quake was centered about 24 miles southwest of Puerto San Jose and 6 miles below the surface.
The quake sent people fleeing into the streets in El Salvador.
Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales sent tweets urging people to remain calm and saying the government was collecting information about possible damage.
The spokesman for Guatemala’s national disaster agency, Julio Sanchez, said there did not appear to be any injuries and damage appeared to be minor.
Turk, Saudi leaders consult on Qatar
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has agreed with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman and the new crown prince to “increase efforts” to end tensions in the region related to the dispute with Qatar, Turkish officials said Thursday.
Erdogan’s spokesman, meanwhile, said Kuwait — which is mediating between Qatar and its Persian Gulf neighbors — would present a list of demands by four Arab nations on Doha to end the crisis.
Ibrahim Kalin told a group of journalists that the list by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt would comprise “concrete requests and things Qatar must do” but did not provide details. It would be handed over to Doha in the coming days, he said. His comments were reported by the state-run Anadolu Agency.
The Turkish leader called the Saudi royals late Wednesday to congratulate them on the appointment of Prince Mohammed bin Salman as the new crown prince, according to a statement from officials in Erdogan’s office.