Forest fires stretching across several states in northern India have reached the outskirts of Shimla, the summer capital under British imperial rule .
India is suffering a blistering heatwave that has killed more than 300 people as temperatures edge close to 50C (122F) in some areas. Hundreds of wildfires have broken out in the oak and pine forests that line the foothills of the Himalayas.
Emergency crews have been confronted by more than 500 fires in the mountainous state of Himachal Pradesh alone and are trying to drive the blaze back from Shimla. Schools and properties were evacuated in panic as fresh outbreaks were reported close to the hill station.
The fires have damaged the narrow-gauge mountain railway to Shimla, a popular tourist attraction that winds through the foothills of the Himalayas. The railway is a Unesco world heritage site. Services have been suspended temporarily.
At least seven people have been killed by fires in the neighbouring state of Uttarakhand.
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Virbhadra Singh, the chief minister of Himachal Pradesh, insisted that emergency teams were managing the crisis and that lives were not in danger. “It is nothing new,” he said. “Fire breakout in forest areas is due to rise in temperature.”
Shimla came under British rule in 1817 and became popular among India’s colonial masters. Much of the British administration decamped to the city in the summer months to escape the sweltering heat of Calcutta, the capital until 1911. It remains a popular destination for Indians and foreigners.
Officials in Himachal Pradesh hope that the rains predicted for this week will douse the fires. All of India is desperate for the monsoon to arrive. The government said last week that 330 million Indians were suffering from the drought.