At least 24 dead and 19 injured as wildfires ravage South Korea's southern regions

At least 24 people died and another 19 were injured as wildfires ravaged South Korea’s southern regions amid dry weather and strong winds, government officials said Wednesday.

Officials in Andong city and other southeastern cities and towns ordered residents to evacuate on Tuesday as firefighters struggled to contain multiple blazes fueled by dry winds, which burned more than 43,000 acres of land and destroyed hundreds of structures, including a 1,300-year-old Buddhist temple.

More than 5,500 people were forced to evacuate from their homes in Andong, the neighboring counties of Uiseong and Sancheong, and the city of Ulsan, where the fires were the largest, according to South Korea's Ministry of the Interior and Safety. South Korean officials earlier on Tuesday had said that firefighters had extinguished most of the flames from the largest wildfires in those areas, but the ongoing dry and windy weather caused setbacks and allowed the blazes to spread again.

Nearly 9,000 firefighters, along with more than 130 helicopters and hundreds of vehicles, were deployed to battle the fires, but efforts were partially suspended overnight as the winds strengthened.