Six fire fighters died fighting a forest fire in Haifeng County, south China's Guangdong Province, on Monday, with eight others injured, the local government said Tuesday.

According to the county government, the fire started on Jiujing Mountain in Meilong Township of the county at around 11 AM. The county's forest fire control headquarters immediately dispatched four detachments to the site of the fire. The casualties were caused when a 14-member detachment was engulfed in fire flame because of change in the wind direction.

All the injured are hospitalized.

The fire was put out at 7:30 PM Monday after destroying 46.7 hectares of forested land.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

(Xinhua News Agency January 18, 2005)