A French family of five on holiday jumped off a seaside cliff in a desperate attempt to escape a raging wildfire, with the father and one of his children plummeting some 165ft (50m) to their deaths, authorities said.

A father and one of his children died when a family was forced to jump 160 feet into the sea after being trapped by a wildfire.

Two people jumped into the sea and died as they fled a raging wildfire in north-eastern Spain, where flames fanned by strong winds also forced the closure of one the main roads linking Spain and France.