BEIJING, March 3 (Reuters) - Six villagers died in central China's Hunan province as they tried to battle a forest fire in an area ravaged by severe winter storms, state media said on Monday.

The fire broke out on Saturday, trapping more than 200 people in the village of Xitai, Xinhua news agency reported.

"The main cause can be attributed to illegal fires set in the forests," Xinhua quoted Hu Changqing, vice head of the Hunan Forestry Department, as saying.

The risk of fire was also increased by the number of trees destroyed and damage to the power grid last month, when Hunan was badly hit by China's worst winter storms in decades. (Reporting by Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Lindsay Beck)

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