A deadly heatwave continued to scorch Europe on Monday, shattering temperature records across multiple countries.
In northwestern Spain, firefighters struggled to contain a blaze that damaged the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Roman-era mining site of Las Médulas. High winds of up to 40 kilometres per hour and temperatures near 40°C created “many difficulties,” said Juan Carlos Suárez-Quiñones, environment minister for the Castile and León region. “We will not allow people to return until safety in their communities is absolutely guaranteed,” he told reporters. Four people, including two firefighters, suffered minor injuries.
In Italy, a four-year-old Romanian boy died of heatstroke days after being found unconscious in his family’s car in Sardinia. Despite the boy being airlifted to a hospital in Rome, doctors said he suffered irreversible injuries. Meanwhile, around 190 firefighters and army units were battling a wildfire on Mount Vesuvius that forced the closure of the national park to tourists.
