At least nine people were dead and seven others injured in fighting a forest fire in southwest China's Yunnan Province Thursday, provincial fire-fighting authorities reported.

Wind boosted a wild fire that had been put out and trapped fire-fighters on a forest-covered mountain slope in Jinhua Township, Jianchuan County Thursday afternoon, said a spokesman with Yunnan Provincial Forest Fire Prevention Authority.

Seven fire-fighters and two government officials of Jinhua were confirmed dead by the authorities. One of the seven injured is still in critical conditions, the spokesman said.

The blaze first started Wednesday afternoon and was initially put on early Thursday morning.

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