40 Killed in Israel Forest Fire

Bus overturns; crews unable to stop flames
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 2, 2010 10:23 AM CST
40 Killed in Israel Forest Fire
Smoke from a wildfire rises to the sky as seen from the northern Israeli community of Kiriyat Bialik, near Haifa, Thursday, Dec. 2, 2010.   (AP Photo/Shay Vaknin)

A forest fire in northern Israel has killed at least 40 people after a bus overturned in the flames, the Jerusalem Post reports. The fire, which began this morning near a village, has spread across some 1,400 acres. Fire crews battled the flames as a kibbutz and a prison were evacuated, but thus far efforts to calm the flames have been unsuccessful, officials said. Strong winds and flammable brush have worsened the situation, whose cause isn’t known.
(More wildfires stories.)

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