Seven die as Spanish heatwave threatens to fan raging forest fires
Two men, aged 71 and 77, died in the southern city of Cordoba on Saturday night, according to the Health Service of Andalucia.
In the coastal city of Huelva, a 39-year-old man died after being found in the street in a coma next to his bicycle. Another 53-year-old man also died.
The fatalities follow three other heat-related deaths on Friday and Saturday in Granada, Cordoba and Seville. In addition, authorities were investigating whether a construction worker’s death was heat-related.
Another 12 people were hospitalised in Andalucia with symptoms of heat stroke, including a homeless man who had been living in a car, the Health Service said.
A heatwave has seared the regions of Andalucia and Extremadura since last Thursday, with temperatures reaching 46 degrees Celsius (115 Fahrenheit) on Friday and hovering around 42 degrees Celsius (107.6 Fahrenheit) yesterday.
But the figures are similar to those of previous summers and should not cause alarm, said a Health Service spokeswoman.
The heatwave has intensified forest fires in five southern and western Spanish provinces since Thursday.
Three people have died from heat in Portugal, which yesterday sought help from fellow EU members to battle devastating forest fires as blazes flared across the country.
Much of Europe has been suffering from low rainfall and high temperatures in recent weeks and flames have torn through parched forests and scrubland.
Portugal’s Interior Minister Antonio Figueiredo Lopes appealed to European countries for airborne support to help the hundreds of firefighters struggling to contain the blazes amid a heatwave across the country.
Two people have been killed since the fires erupted in Portugal last Sunday, engulfing large swathes of the country as it swelters under temperatures topping 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).
“It is one of the most serious catastrophes in the past 20 years,” said the minister, who visited one of the affected areas.
The situation continued to deteriorate around towns north and east of Lisbon, including Castelo Branco and Portalegre, where 20 major blazes and around 200 smaller fires had been recorded.
Some 1,500 firefighters were battling the flames with the help of 350 fire engines and helicopters, and residents had to be evacuated from six villages in the region ahead of the encroaching fire.
Five Moroccan aircraft and two Italian water-carrying planes were sent to help.
About one-third of Portugal is covered by forest and each year thousands of trees are lost to flames during the country’s hot, dry summers.
There have been some 1,700 forest fires in the country so far this year, destroying more than 26,000 hectares of brush and trees, according to forest help service figures released Friday.
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