Firefighters were Tuesday battling Japan's worst wildfire in half a century, which has left one dead and forced the evacuation of nearly 4,000 local residents. White smoke billowed from a forested area around the northern city of Ofunato,

A massive forest fire has engulfed parts of Ofunato, a northeastern coastal city in Japan, damaging dozens of homes and forcing thousands to evacuate. The fire, which began last Wednesday, has now spread across approximately 2,

An area of at least 2,100 hectares in Ofunato, Iwate prefecture, has been destroyed by the blaze. At least one person has died.