Firefighters were Tuesday battling Japan's worst wildfire in half a century, which has left one dead and forced the evacuation of nearly 4,000 local residents.White smoke billowed from a forested area around the northern city of Ofunato,

The fire, in a forested area of the coastal city of Ofunato, killed at least one person and prompted evacuation orders for thousands of residents.

As record-breaking snowfall is recorded in Japan's main island of Hokkaido, the country fights its worst wildfire in decades in the north-east.