Fires rage on Spain’s Costa del Sol

Thousands of people have been trying to escape from a huge wildfire in southern Spain.

The blaze broke out near the port city of Malaga late on Thursday and is now raging out of control.

Fanned by strong winds and high temperatures, it is now reached the edge of the upmarket tourist resort of Marbella on the Costa del Sol.

Some officials have described the inferno as the worst they have ever seen. Many terrified residents do not know whether their homes have gone up in smoke.

Record high temperatures in some regions along with unusually dry weather in Spain has resulted in wildfires burning thousands of hectares of land this summer.

Thousands of people were evacuated earlier this month in the Canary Islands, while four people died in fires in the border area between France and Catalonia, in northeast Spain, in July.

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