A massive wildfire that has scorched through 16,000 hectares of forest and villages in southern France since Tuesday has lost intensity but is still not under control, officials said on Thursday.

France's biggest wildfire in nearly eight decades has killed one person and destroyed dozens of houses. Plumes of smoke rose over the forest area in the Aude region.

Three people are missing and two people, including a firefighter, are in critical condition, local authorities said.

Drone footage showed swathes of charred earth after the fire swept across an area one-and-a-half times the size of Paris.

The blaze, around 100 km (60 miles) from the border with Spain, not far from the Mediterranean Sea, has spread unusually rapidly, fanned by strong winds and very dry vegetation, following months

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