PALERMO, Italy, Aug. 24 (UPI) -- Two brothers, both shepherds, were charged Friday with setting a fire that killed three people at a holiday farm in Sicily.
Mariano and Valerio Lamancusa were among four shepherds taken in for questioning after their cars were seen near the Patti farm, the Italian news agency Ansa reported. The blaze Wednesday also injured 17 people.
Also Friday, a village near Palermo -- San Martino delle Scale -- was partly evacuated because of a threat from a wild fire. At least three residents of the mountain village were hospitalized for smoke inhalation.
Other residents were given shelter in a quarry near the village.
Italy, like other countries on the Mediterranean rim, has been enduring a bad summer for fires. Investigators say many of the blazes were deliberately set, some by developers or farmers trying to clear land.
