Heatwave fans flames across Italy and Balkans

CROATIA:More than 1,000 tourists and residents of a Croatian island were evacuated yesterday when it was engulfed by a wildfire, as a heatwave continued to fan flames and claim lives across Italy and the Balkans.

Bulgaria asked Nato, the EU and Russia for equipment to fight forest fires that are burning across 20,000 hectares of territory, while in neighbouring Greece several people died in houses and cars that were swallowed by raging fire.

No casualties were reported on the Croatian island of Solta, where 1,400 locals and visitors were evacuated by ferry after 400 hectares of land were devoured by fire, despite the efforts of hundreds of emergency workers and a water-dropping plane and helicopter.

Record temperatures of almost 45 degrees across the Balkans have caused some roads and railway tracks to melt, electricity grids to fail under demand from air conditioners and fans and forests to burst into flames after a dry winter and spring.

In Bulgaria, fires around the central city of Kazanluk have prompted the closure of the area to all traffic except emergency vehicles, as officials pin their hopes on the early arrival of a Turkish helicopter that is currently putting out fires in neighbouring Macedonia.

"We have asked emergency authorities in the EU and Nato to send us water-carrying planes or helicopters," said Liliana Kostadinova, spokeswoman for the Emergencies Ministry.

"Russia sent us an IL-76 airplane last week, which yesterday left to fight fires in Serbia. The situation here worsened overnight."

More than 30 people have died in Romania during the second regional heatwave in a month, and dozens more have perished in Greece, Bulgaria and across former Yugoslavia.

In Hungary, a senior health official said as many as 500 people may have died in the last week as a direct or indirect result of the fierce heat.

In Greece, several villages on the northern coastline of the Peloponnese are threatened by fire, and the main highway between Athens and the major port of Patras is closed.

"This is a fire with a front as long as 30-35 kilometres. It is huge," said Panagiotis Gousas, deputy mayor of one threatened village, Egio.

"There are several fire fronts and more houses are in danger." In Italy, fire has damaged some 4,500 acres of protected land in recent weeks, according to environmental groups who say arson is largely to blame.