Plane fighting wildfires in Evia crashes
More than 40 people have been killed in Europe as wildfires engulfed more swaths of land on Wednesday, destroying homes and livelihoods and threatening nature reserves amid one of the fiercest heatwaves ever.
Thousands of firefighters worked to contain the blazes in parts of Greece and eight other Mediterranean countries, and the entire island of Rhodes was put into a state of emergency for six months.
High temperatures and winds have created a “perfect storm” to allow the fires to spread in Portugal, Turkey, Italy, France, Croatia and Spain.
Temperatures are expected to peak on Wednesday, exceeding 44C in some areas of Greece.
New evacuation orders were issued for areas close to two central Greek cities after fresh wildfires killed two people. Blazes continued to rage on the islands of Rhodes, Corfu and Evia.
Meanwhile, in its annual State of the UK Climate report, the Met Office warned temperatures higher than 40C, summer droughts, grassfires and downpours will increase in both frequency and severity.
