Forest fire contained in southwest China's Sichuan

A firefighting helicopter heads to battle a forest fire in Muli County in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Sichuan Province, April 2, 2019. A fire that engulfed around 15 hectares of forest in southwest China's Sichuan Province has been contained as of Tuesday noon, local authorities said. (Xinhua/Liu Kun)

CHENGDU, April 2 (Xinhua) -- A fire that engulfed around 15 hectares of forest in southwest China's Sichuan Province has been contained as of Tuesday noon, local authorities said.

"However, there are still areas that are burning. Due to complex terrain, we need more time to extinguish the fire," said Wu Song, county chief of Muli, Sichuan's Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture.

"We're ready to increase precipitation artificially," Wu said.

Local authorities have dispatched more than 600 people to quench the blaze which broke out at around 6 p.m. on Saturday at a remote spot in the mountains at an altitude of over 3,700 meters.

Thirty people, including 27 firefighters and three locals, lost their lives while fighting the fire.