Turkey, Greece and Italy wildfires – live: 8 dead as wildlife ravaged in ‘disaster areas’, fire hits Croatia

Latest developments from across Europe

A heat wave across southern Europe, fed by hot air from North Africa, has triggered deadly blazes across the Mediterranean with the death toll rising to eight on Sunday.

Wildfires are raging near Turkey’s holiday beach destinations of Antalya and Mugla and in the surrounding countryside, with villages destroyed, animals on fire and people being forced to evacuate.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called parts of southern Turkey hit by the fires “disaster areas.”

Blazes have also affected the Italian island of Sicily, Croatia and western Greece, where some residents had to be evacuated by boat to escape the flames.

On Sunday, bathers on an Italian beach south of the Adriatic city of Pescara fled when they spotted towering clouds of smoke and flames from a fire in a nearby pine forest.

Meanwhile, in Turkey's eastern Van province, floods over the weekend destroyed at least six houses after a small river overflowed amid heavy rains.

3 August 2021

INDEPENDENT