Fire officials said about 40 people were killed. About two dozen people were still missing, Israel Radio reported. "This is a disaster of unprecedented proportions," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday. He said the government was using all means at its disposal to contain the blaze, and he appealed to Cyprus, Italy, Russia and Greece to provide back-up. His office said Greece and Cyprus agreed to send firefighting helicopters. After nightfall, he flew over the scene of the fire to inspect the damage. At the firefighters' command post, he said the blaze was of "international proportions" and the arrival of equipment from abroad on Friday could be decisive, but they could not work at night. The fire broke out about midday and quickly spread, fanned by uncharacteristic hot and dry conditions. Israel experienced an exceptionally hot summer and has had little rain during the normally wet autumn and winter season.

It destroyed one of Israel's few large forests, made up of natural growth and planted areas, a favourite spot for camping, hiking and picnics. A nature reserve provided a refuge for dozens of species of wildlife. Forestry workers tried to evacuate animals from the inferno. The forest recovered slowly from a fire in 1989, but experts said Thursday's blaze was many times worse. Defence Minister Ehud Barak ordered the military to make all its resources available to help put out the fire and rescue the victims, according to a statement from his office. The military said it sent soldiers and equipment to the site of the fire, including helicopters, huge bulldozers, medics and army units to help with evacuation of victims. The fire in the northern Carmel region prompted authorities to clear the area of hundreds of residents, as well as inmates from the Damun prison, many of them Palestinians. After sundown, evacuation orders were issued for several more communities, a neighbourhood of Haifa, Israel's third largest city, and a third prison.

Haifa University, at the edge of the stricken Carmel nature preserve, was evacuated, the university said in a statement. Kibbutz Bet Oren, a collective village in the wooded area, burned to the ground after its residents were evacuated. The military emptied one of its prisons near the fire area, a psychiatric hospital was evacuated and a nature resort in the middle of the forest sent all its guests home. Prison officials said a bus headed to Damun went up in flames. TV footage showed the charred skeleton of the bus, with several bodies lying on the ground. No inmates were reported injured. Yaron Zamir, a spokesman for the national prison service, said the men were prison workers brought in as reinforcements from central Israel to assist in the rescue. Prison service officials told Israel Radio that the fire caught up with the bus and engulfed it.

Yoram Levy of the national fire service said the death toll from the fire was about 40, most of whom died in the bus accident. He said officials suspected the forest fire was caused by people burning garbage. Israel's president, Shimon Peres, expressed sorrow for the loss of life and praised the firefighters trying to contain the blaze. Peres's office said he later spoke to the Palestinian prime minister, Salam Fayyad, who offered condolences. AP