BUENOS AIRES: One person has died and 11 are reported missing as forest fires have blazed through Argentina's Patagonia region for days, officials reported Friday. Dozens of people have been evacuated from the path of the advancing flames, and some 200 houses have been destroyed.

The fires, which authorities suspect were started deliberately early this week, have reached several towns near the foothills of the Andes mountains, and have consumed about 1,500 hectares of forest, local authorities said.