Holidaymakers rescued as fires spread across Europe

Firefighters work to extinguish fire on Monte Arci in Sardinia on Thursday. One person was killed in a forest fire on the Italian island of Sardinia and another was missing, while authorities evacuated homes and a beach due to approaching flames. Photo: AFP

Deadly summer wild fires spread across Spain, France, Italy and Greece on Friday with holidaymakers rescued from beaches and thousands of firefighters brought into the battle.
At least seven people are known to have died in the fires in three days. A Spanish fireman and a shepherd and a farmer on the Italian island of Sardinia were the latest fatalities.
Helicopters and civil protection boats plucked about 120 people to safety from a beach at Capo Pecora in the southwest of Sardinia on Thursday night after they became trapped by flames.
Near Cagliari, the main city, inmates from a prison spent the night on a beach because fire threatened the penitentiary.
Some 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres) of forest and brush are estimated to have been destroyed by six separate fires on Sardinia. Hundreds of firefighters backed by Canadair water planes tried to bring them under control Friday.