This week's heatwave continues to cause fires in southern Europe. Near the city of Ierapetra on Crete's south coast, large forest fires have ravaged during Wednesday.
Local authorities ordered the evacuation of both hotels and residences in several of the city's surrounding areas during the evening. At least 1,500 people have so far been evacuated, and several tourists have had to spend the night in a basketball arena.
Andreas Jansson, who is on vacation in the area, chose to leave his hotel when the fires came closer.
When we saw that the fires were approaching around a hill and it started to sting in the eyes, we jumped into a taxi. We were lucky to get one – several in the travel party are still at the hotel, he says to Aftonbladet.
About 150 firefighters worked during the evening with the extinguishing work, which has been complicated by strong winds in the area.
It's a very difficult situation, the fire is very difficult to limit, says Nektarios Papadakis at the local rescue service, to the news agency AP.
There is still no information about injured people.
