The most devastating forest fire in Spain’s Valencia Region in the last 10 years continues to spread, prompting the evacuation of 2,000 people.
The fire, which began on Saturday near Vall d’Ebo, about 60 kilometres northeast of Alicante, has already destroyed more than 9,500 hectares of forest, state broadcaster RTVE and other Spanish media reported on Tuesday.
About 2,000 people were evacuated on Tuesday, but it was not specified whether they were tourists or residents. The fire is less than 50 kilometres from the Costa Blanca resorts.
According to Spanish media, the clouds of ash have reached as far as the island of Mallorca, almost 300 kilometres away.
This is the worst year for forest fires in Spain since the registration of such disasters began.
More than 270,000 hectares have already been destroyed by hundreds of forest fires since the beginning of the year, according to measurements from the European Earth observation programme Copernicus.
