Three forest workers died while trying to put out flames that engulfed forests in southwest China's Yunnan Province Tuesday, the local government said early Wednesday.

A forest fire has been raging for two days on Mt. Cangshan.

The three men were among 300 people fighting a forest fire that broke out on Mt. Wugong (Mt. Centipede) in Binchuan County, Dali, at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, the county government said in a press release.

The dead were identified as Zhou Yegui, Yang Xuelei and Dongxingwei, all natives of Binchuan County. They died at 5:20 p.m. while protecting other fire fighters from being injured.

The fire, which engulfed 50 hectares of forest amid high winds, was extinguished at 3:40 a.m. Wednesday.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

The local government said no rain had fallen in Binchuan county since November and the woods were prone to fire.

Another forest fire broke out at 3 p.m. Sunday on Mt. Cangshan, a major tourist attraction in Yangbi County, Dali. The fire was partially contained as of Tuesday.

The fire prompted the evacuation of more than 2,000 visitors and local residents, but no casualties were reported. Part of the mountain area reopened to visitors Wednesday.

Fire control authorities in Yunnan said 84 forest fires had been reported in the province since November, up 611 percent from the same period in the previous year.

Yunnan is suffering from the worst drought in 60 years, and windy weather has allowed forest fires to spread quickly, according to the province's forestry department.