On the French island of Corsica, some 4,000 hectares (10,000 acres) of scrub and bush has burnt in 12 separate blazes over the past 24 hours, with temperatures of above 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) and strong winds fanning the flames.

“The current situation is … of very high to extreme fire danger in large areas of southern Europe and will remain critical over the next few days,” an EU statement said.

It defined major fires as those covering an area from 1,000 to several thousand hectares.