Thousands of people have been forced to evacuate their homes in Greece as a historic heatwave fuels dozens of wildfires across southeastern Europe, leaving a trail of destruction and killing at least 14 people in Turkey.
In Greece, where temperatures have exceeded 45 C, Prime Minister Mr. Kyriakos Mitsotakis said emergency services were waging a “titanic battle” on multiple fronts.
The most severe blaze was on the island of Kythera, where the coast guard rescued 139 people, including tourists, from a beach.
The island’s deputy mayor, Giorgos Komninos, described the destruction of homes and farmland as “incalculable.”
While a major fire near Athens that injured two firefighters has been contained, crews are still battling uncontained blazes in Messinia in the Peloponnese and flare-ups on the islands of Evia and Crete.
In Turkey, a record temperature of 50.5 C (was registered as more than 1,700 people fled fires near the city of Bursa.
A firefighter died of a heart attack on Sunday, bringing the death toll from recent fires there to 14.
Dozens of fires were also reported in neighboring Albania.