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Israeli backpacker escapes jail over Chile forest fire

February 10, 2012 15:16

ByJennifer Lipman, Jennifer Lipman

1 min read

An Israeli backpacker has accepted a deal to pay £6,300 compensation to a Chilean environmental group after he was arrested for causing a devastating forest fire.

The money will be used to fund the purchase of 50,000 trees for the Chilean forestry agency to plant.

Rotem Singer, 23, was arrested at the start of January in connection with a forest fire at the Torres de Paine National Park, in southern Chile. The blaze caused severe damage to wildlife in the area.

Mr Singer was alleged to have accidentally started the fire by failing to extinguish a burning roll of toilet paper.