Getty ImagesAt least one person has died and around 40 others have been injured after a severe wildfire tore through cities on Croatia’s coastline on Thursday night and Friday morning.
The blaze broke out near the village of Lokva Rogoznica on Thursday evening, and spread quickly towards the nearby tourist town of Omis, 6km (7 miles) away.
Around 1,200 residents and tourists were evacuated, while 10 people were in intensive care in hospital, the prime minister said. Croatia’s fire chief Slavko Tucakovic described it as “one of the worst” blazes in the country’s history.
Croatia is one of several European nations suffering devastating wildfires, after a summer of extreme heat and dry conditions.
Tucakovic said the firestorm burned through “everything in their path” as officials confirmed flames, fanned by strong winds, engulfed 1,000 hectares in just four hours.
More than 300 firefighters were deployed overnight on Thursday, with crews sometimes forced to retreat as the fire advanced.
Footage shared online shows thick smoke and huge flames tearing through surrounding vegetation, turning the sky red, as stranded residents and tourists looked on.
Some people were forced to jump into the sea from boats to escape the fire.
Getty ImagesEmergency shelters were opened in several towns along the coast, as evacuations continued throughout the night.
On Friday, officials confirmed that a body had been discovered in a burnt-out area as emergency services continued searching affected zones.
Later on Friday, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic visited the affected area, where he praised the work of emergency crews.
The fire had spread at “lightning speed” and with “gale-force winds”, he told reporters, adding that what firefighters had managed to save was “truly a miracle”.
The Commander of Omis Volunteer Fire Department, Viseslav Pesic told Reuters the blaze was so intense that people had abandoned vehicles “directly in the fire zone”, making it difficult for emergency crews to pass through.
Getty ImagesFirefighters across Europe have been facing intense pressure and a strain on resources as serious wildfires continue to rage across the continent, fuelled by extreme heatwaves.
In Agios Vasileios in Greece, more than 200 people were evacuated by boat from a beach resort after wildfires raged across the country, while more than 500 residents were forced to leave their homes because of a fire in the south-western Landes region, near to an area already devastated by wildfires.
More than 2,000 people were also evacuated from the village of Gey in western Germany after a forest fire spread towards a village near the Belgian border.
Meanwhile, an emergency wildfire alert was sent to millions of people in England and Wales on Friday, warning of the “very high risk” of wildfires nationally, as firefighters continue to battle multiple blazes in the West Midlands.
