Twelve people were charged with negligent homicide in deadly forest fires in Portugal last year, local public prosecutor's office said in a statement on Thursday.

The defendants include three commanders of Portugal's civil protection agency, three local officials and three employees of a company responsible for the maintenance of a road where some 50 people died the blaze in Pedrogao Grande, and two senior managers of an electricity supply company, the statement said.

A total of 66 people died in Pedrogao Grande, some 200 kilometers northeast of Lisbon, among whom 47 were killed in their cars as they fled the huge flames in June 2017. The fires also destroyed more than 24,000 hectares of forest.