Drone Video Shows Burnt Cars of People Who Died Fleeing a Forest Fire

Red Cross and other relief personnel are seen outside a relief centre for people affected by a forest fire in Figueiro dos Vinhos, Portugal on June 19, 2017. REUTERS/Miguel Vidal

A drone operator filmed scenes of emergency vehicles pulling burnt cars off the main highway through Pedrógão, Portugal.

Each of these charred, ash-covered hulks is a coffin.

The fires that swept through the forests around Pedrógão, Portugal, were so hot they literally flash-fried people in their cars like canned meat being cooked in a factory.

These people were doing their best to flee the flames. There is only one way out of the area. They couldn’t stay in their burning homes.

Obviously they couldn’t drive away in their cars, either.

So far 62 deaths have been reported. Many of those died in their cars, on the lone highway out of town.

The death toll is likely to rise. Rescue workers have not been able to reach many of the more remote villages yet.

Aerial view of a forest fire is seen from the cabin of a Spanish fire fighting plane near Pedrogao Grande, Portugal on June 18, 2017. Spanish Defence Ministry-Spanish Air Force/Handout via REUTERS