Thousands are evacuated in Spain as heatwave fans Mediterranean wildfires

The deadly heatwave fanning wildfires across the Mediterranean region has claimed at least three lives and forced thousands from their homes.

- Sam Jones Madrid Helena Smith Athens

Firefighters continued to battle blazes yesterday and authorities expected further damage as temperatures in some areas surged well past 40C. In Spain, a Romanian man in his 50s died after suffering 98% burns while trying to rescue horses from a burning stable near Madrid on Monday night.

A four-year-old boy who was found unconscious in his family's car in Sardinia died in Rome on Monday after suffering brain damage caused by heatstroke. In Montenegro, one soldier died and another was seriously injured when their water tanker overturned while fighting wildfires north of the capital, Podgorica, yesterday.

Scientist have warned that the heat currently affecting large parts of Europe is creating perfect conditions for wildfires and serving as another reminder of the climate emergency. "Thanks to climate change, we now live in a significantly warmer world," Akshay Deoras, a research scientist at the meteorology department of the University of Reading, told Agence France-Presse.

The fire in Tres Cantos, near Madrid - which had been fuelled by winds of 70km/h (45mph) and which has devoured 1,000 hectares of land - was still not under control yesterday evening, when further strong winds were expected. The regional government said it had recovered 150 dead sheep and 18 dead horses.