Thousands of people were forced to evacuate their homes after forest fires ripped through the Spanish island of La Palma.
At least 11 houses were destroyed in the inferno which started in the early hours in El Pinar de Puntagorda - a wooded area in the north of the Canary Island, which is popular with British holidaymakers.
The local mayor told Spanish TV channel RTVE that the area, which has experienced blistering temperatures of 40C this week, has also been suffering from a lack of rain.
An emergency alert was issued by the Canary Islands Government as fire crews battled to bring the fire under control.
“The fire advanced very quickly,” said Fernando Clavijo, the president of the Canary Islands regional government. He blamed “the wind, the climate conditions as well as the heatwave that we are living through” for the fire outbreak.
It comes as a blistering heatwave continues to sweep through others parts of southern Europe.
Red alerts have been issued for 16 cities across Italy - including the tourist meccas of Rome, Florence and Bologna - with people advised to stay indoors between 11am and 6pm.
Yesterday, the Acropolis in Greece was closed during the hottest hours for the second day in a row to protect visitors to the site, after some tourists collapsed in the brutal conditions.
The heatwave has been named Cerberus by Italian meteorologists, after the three-headed hound of Hades from Greek mythology. A second heat-wave that could break temperature records next week is named Charon, after the ferryman of Greek mythology who bore souls to the underworld.
The current European record is 48.8C, in Sicily in August 2021.
