ATHENS, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Large areas of the Mediterranean have sweltered under an intense summer heatwave in recent weeks and Greece, Algeria and other affected areas are battling wildfires together.
Hundreds of firefighters, helped by counterparts from Türkiye and Slovakia, have been battling blazes that have raged on the islands of Rhodes, Corfu and Evia since Wednesday amid hot, windy conditions, while emergency planes have been flying out tourists.
FIRE-FIGHTING PLANE CRASH
The pilot and co-pilot of a firefighting plane have died after their aircraft crashed on Tuesday while battling a forest fire on the Greek island of Evia, the country's Defense Ministry said.
The victims were two Greek Air Force officers aged 27 and 34. A three-day mourning in the Armed Forces has been announced.
"They sacrificed their lives to save others... In their memory, we continue the battle against nature's destructive forces," Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said.
The bodies of the two men were retrieved from the crash site near the coastal town of Karystos after a search and rescue operation, the Greek national news agency AMNA reported.
Greek authorities have warned of an extreme risk of wildfires in several areas of the country due to the record-breaking heat. Greece has experienced its third heatwave this month.
COAST FACING CRISIS
Algeria was battling to contain devastating forest fires along its Mediterranean coast on Tuesday. The fire has killed at least 34 people, authorities said, adding they had managed to control about four-fifths of the blaze.
The provinces of Bejaia, Jijel and Bouira known for their dense forests and agriculture fields are the most affected by the wildfires, which started on Sunday night and rapidly spread across the region because of strong winds, according to the Interior Ministry.
The ministry said Tuesday that 80 percent of the fires had been put out. A ministry statement quoted by the daily newspaper of El Watan credited the uninterrupted mobilization of firefighters, the use of firefighting aircraft and a drop in wind and temperatures.
The Algerian Defense Ministry said Monday night that 10 soldiers had died in the hardest-hit region of Bejaia. It added that 25 people were injured and evacuated to the closest hospitals.
THE SILENT KILLER
Scientists have described extreme heat as a "silent killer" taking a heavy toll on the vegetation and lives of people.
Research published this month said as many as 61,000 people may have died in Europe's sweltering heatwaves last summer, suggesting preparedness efforts are falling fatally short.
The extreme weather throughout July has caused havoc across the planet, with record temperatures in China, the United States and southern Europe sparking forest fires, water shortages and a rise in heat-related hospital admissions.
The heat has also caused large-scale crop damage and livestock losses, said the World Weather Attribution(WWA), a global team of scientists that examines the role played by climate change in extreme weather.
Agricultural production is also severely affected in some places, such as the U.S. corn and soybean crops, Mexican cattle, southern European olives as well as Chinese cotton, according to the WWA scientists.
Without human-induced climate change, the events this month would have been "extremely rare," according to a study released by the WWA.
