The World - News from May 18, 1987

Sudden strong winds fanned the huge forest fire in northeastern China, posing a renewed threat to Tahe, a city of 100,000 people about 900 miles northeast of Beijing, the Chinese Forestry Ministry reported. The ministry announced the deaths of 23 more people, bringing the official toll to 191. Earlier, officials had said that 34,000 civilian and military firefighters were bringing the blaze under control. The fire, in Heilongjiang province near the Soviet border, began May 6, and it has burned more than 2,350 square miles, Chinese authorities reported.