The forest fire occurring in Tibetan Autonomous County of Muli, southwest China's Sichuan Province, keeps raging due to unfavorable factors such as inconvenient transportation and dry weather.

 

No casualties have been reported thus far, said latest information from the fire fighting headquarters.

 

The fire started on Monday in Mailuo of Muli County close to the border of Yunnan Province, south to Sichuan, with visible flames in four separate venues. The fire has so far destroyed forests on 500 ha. of land.

 

Some 2,000 people, including forest patrol police, have been mobilized to quench the fire. But the fire fighting effort has made slow headway due to difficulties caused by rugged mountain roads.

 

A chief of the fire fighting squad said they might try cloud seeding to increase rainfall once the weather allows it. Up to now, cloud seeding workers, plus equipment required for doing so, are all ready in place for a proper opportunity to execute cloud seeding.

 

(Xinhua News Agency April 15, 2006)