Wildfires continue to sweep southern Europe

Relentless heat and raging wildfires continue to ravage southern Europe, with one-quarter of weather stations in Spain recording 40C temperatures, as the prime minister urged people to "leave the climate emergency outside of partisan struggles".

- Ajit Niranjan Sam Jones

The Spanish weather agency Aemet recorded a high of 45.8C in Cadiz on Sunday, while one in eight weather stations hit peaks of at least 42C (108F). The agency warned of "very high or extreme fire danger" in most of the country in a post on social media yesterday.

Deadly fires have burned 348,000 hectares (860,000 acres) in Spain this year, according to preliminary data published by the EU's Copernicus monitoring programme yesterday, charring even more land than when the previous record was set in 2022.

A fourth person was killed by the fires in Spain when a fire engine overturned on a steep forest road, while in neighbouring Portugal, where 216,000 hectares have burned, another firefighter died.

Civil protection authorities in Spain said 31,130 people have been evacuated in the last week.