02/12/2010 Around 40 people are believed to have been killed in a devastating forest fire raging out of control near Israel's northern city of Haifa.
Israeli officials described the inferno as among the worst in the nation's history, with hundreds of firefighters on the ground and in the air battling to tame the blaze.
Israel's ambulance service Magen David Adom said its paramedics were on the ground treating people caught in the flames. "There are about 45 casualties, of whom about 40 are dead," the ambulance service said in a statement.
Fireman Dudu Vanunu told Channel Two television he saw flames consume a bus believed to be trying to evacuate people ahead of the enormous fire. "Anyone who's ever seen a firestorm will know. They could not survive it, they had no protection, they just fell to the road and burned alive," he said.
Israeli public radio reported earlier that a bus carrying 50 people had overturned while trying to escape the blaze and had been caught in the fire.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appealed to the international community for help to put out the devastating forest fire. "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke in recent minutes with the heads of Greece, Cyprus, Italy and Russia with the aim of recruiting additional air fire fighters from these countries to help put out the fire in the Carmel," a statement from the Israeli premier's office said.
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian
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