At least 34 people have been killed in Algeria, while three have been killed in Italy’s southern island of Sicily. Temperatures topping 40C and parched ground have sparked fires in countries on both sides of the Mediterranean.
At least nine countries across the Mediterranean have been hit by wildfires, as thousands of firefighters battled to extinguish blazes across the region.
At least 34 people have been killed in Algeria, while three have been killed in Italy’s southern island of Sicily.
Temperatures topping 40C (104F) and parched ground have sparked fires in countries on both sides of the Mediterranean.
Greece has been hit particularly hard, with over 20,000 evacuated in recent days from homes and resorts in the south of the holiday island Rhodes, while Corfu has also been hit by severe blazes.
Two firefighting pilots died when their plane crashed into a hillside on the island of Evia, east of Athens.
Several people have been arrested or fined across Greece in recent days for accidentally starting fires.
Wildfires in Greece have released a record 1 megaton of carbon emissions between 1 and 25 July, the European Union’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) said – nearly double the previous July 2007 record, with smoke plumes deteriorating air quality in regions downwind.
Wildfires on Italy’s southern island of Sicily have killed three elderly people, its regional president said.
In Croatia, flames came within 12km (7.5 miles) of the medieval town of Dubrovnik late on Tuesday, with local media reporting landmines left over from the 1990s war of independence had been detonated by the fire.
Dozens of firefighters were using aircraft to battle a wildfire that had broken out close to Nice international airport in southern France.
Meanwhile, in north Africa, Algeria was fighting to contain devastating forest fires along its coast in a blaze which has already killed at least 34.
Fires fanned by strong winds also closed the closure of two border crossings in neighbouring Tunisia.
