TEHRAN, March 26 (MNA) – The pilot of a helicopter fighting massive wildfires raging in South Korea was killed in a crash on Wednesday.

At least 18 people have been killed in one of South Korea's worst wildfire outbreaks, with multiple raging blazes causing "unprecedented damage," South Korea's acting President Han Duck-soo said on Wednesday.

More than a dozen fires broke out over the weekend, scorching wide swathes of the southeast, forcing around 27,000 people to urgently evacuate, with the fire cutting off roads and downing communications lines as residents fled in panic.

Overnight into Wednesday, the death toll jumped as wind-driven flames tore through neighborhoods and razed an ancient temple.

"Eighteen people died in the wildfires," a ministry of safety official told AFP According to the interior ministry, the wildfires have charred 17,398 hectares, with the blaze in Uiseong county alone accounting for 87 percent of the total.

The government has raised the crisis alert to its highest level and taken the rare step of transferring thousands of prisoners.

"Wildfires burning for a fifth consecutive day ...

are causing unprecedented damage," acting President Han said.

He told an emergency safety and disaster meeting that the blazes were "developing in a way that is exceeding both existing prediction models and earlier expectations." "Throughout the night, chaos continued as power and communication lines were cut in several areas and roads were blocked," he added.

MNA/