South Korea firefighting helicopter crashes, killing pilot

A helicopter fighting deadly wildfires in South Korea crashed on Wednesday (Mar 26), killing the pilot, the fire department told AFP, as authorities raced to bring the massive blazes under control.

"A helicopter putting out the wildfire crashed in a mountain area in Uiseong County," a Gyeongbuk Fire Service official said.

"We have been told that there was one pilot who was declared dead at the scene."

According to Yonhap news agency, the country's forestry service said that firefighting helicopters have been grounded after the crash.

The deadly wildfires have spread rapidly and forced more than 27,000 residents to flee their homes.

Fuelled by strong winds and dry weather, the blazes have razed entire neighbourhoods, closed schools and forced authorities to transfer hundreds of inmates from prisons.

Dozens of helicopters and thousands of firefighters and soldiers have been deployed to deal with the wildfires.