Wildfires driven by strong winds spread across several parts of Greece on Saturday, including areas near Athens. Large-scale firefighting efforts and emergency evacuations were underway as wildfire conditions also deteriorated in parts of Spain and France.
Villages in France and Spain have been destroyed, and hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes and holiday accommodation.
Blazes fed by gale-force winds flared up across Greece, which until recent days had experienced fewer heatwaves and a relatively quiet fire season.
In France, a fire in the mountainous southeastern department of Var, which had been brought under control three days ago, flared up again on Friday.
Nearly 2,500 people were evacuated overnight, with firefighters bringing in reinforcements on Saturday when winds were expected to strengthen and complicate efforts to control the blaze.
Spain continued to battle several wildfire hotspots on Saturday, two days after the government declared the end of a national emergency caused by huge fires in the country's central provinces.
Conditions worsened in the northern province of León, where a new blaze broke out on Friday night.
In the eastern province of Castellon, the Vall d'Uixo fire was stabilised on its seventh day after burning nearly 10,000 hectares, allowing all evacuated residents to return. Police said they suspected arson after finding two separate ignition points.
Major fires in the central areas of Madrid and Ávila, which burned more than 70,000 hectares, were stabilised, though a new outbreak near the San Juan reservoir was extinguished on Friday.
Greek authorities issued emergency alerts for several areas for Saturday and warned of extreme wildfire risk in the regions of Attica and Evia.
More than 300 firefighters, 92 firefighting trucks, heavy machinery and aircraft have continued to battle a conflagration in the region of Boeotia, where more than 200 people from the town of Agios Vasileios, about 80 kilometres northwest of Athens, had to be evacuated by sea.
Firefighting operations also continued overnight in the regions of Argolida and Arta.
In Austria, the country's Agency for Health and Food Safety reported a record 395 heat-related deaths for the month of June.
Earlier this week, the UK said an estimated 2,877 authorities people in Britain had died from heat-related causes so far this year while France reported 5,764 excess deaths in the country.
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U.S. President Donald Trump said negotiations to reopen the Strait of Hormuz are progressing and suggested an agreement with Iran could be reached “soon”.
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