Young boy dies in Italy as heatwave grips Europe
The Romanian boy, four, died in Italy after being found unconscious in his family's car on the island of Sardinia.
The Mirror reports the boy was holidaying with his parents in Olmedo and it was believed he left the house they were staying in before they made the devastating discovery.
He was flown to hospital in Rome but died of irreversible brain damage, according to the hospital.
French cities saw record temperatures, and many towns and cities in Italy and the Balkans were put on red alert due to the heat.
Wildfires fanned by strong winds forced the evacuations of thousands of people throughout the continent and threatened popular tourist sites in Turkey and Spain.
The news came as Italy's health ministry issued a red alert warning for seven major cities, including Bologna and Florence.
Some 11 Italian cities were on red alert for Tuesday, and 16 cities on Wednesday.
Red alerts were also announced in southern France and on the Adriatic and Ionian coasts in the Balkans.
'The heatwave currently affecting France, Spain, and the Balkan countries is not surprising. It is driven by a persistent heat dome over Europe,' Akshay Deoras, a research scientist at the meteorology department in Britain's University of Reading, said.
'Heatwaves don't roar like storms – they creep in quietly, but can be just as deadly.'
The southwestern French city of Bordeaux hit a record 41.6C while all-time records were also broken at meteorological stations in Bergerac, Cognac and Saint Girons, according to the national weather service, Meteo France.
The heatwave, the country's second this summer, began on Friday and was forecast to last until August 19 or 20.
On Monday, 12 French departments were placed on red alert, the country's highest heat warning, with four more expected on Tuesday.
UNESCO site damaged
A blaze, which broke out on Sunday, damaged a UNESCO World Heritage-listed Roman-era mining site at Les Medulas in northwestern Spain – famed for its striking red landscape – and prompted hundreds of residents to evacuate.
High temperatures and winds of up to 40 kmph created 'many difficulties' for firefighters struggling to contain the wildfire, said Juan Carlos Suarez-Quinones, the Castile and Leon regional environment minister.
'We will not allow people to return until safety in their communities is absolutely guaranteed,' he told reporters, estimating that about 700 people had been displaced.
Spain has been in the grip of a heatwave for the past week, with temperatures nearing 40C in many areas and fuelling wildfires.
In the southern tourist town of Tarifa, more than 2000 people were evacuated, some from hotels and beaches, after a fire that had been subdued on Friday flared up again, with more than 100 firefighters battling the flames.
In neighbouring Portugal, firefighters were battling three large wildfires in the centre and north of the country, while Morocco is sending two aircraft to help fight the fires after two Portuguese planes broke down.
In Italy, around 190 firefighters and the army were tackling a wildfire on Mount Vesuvius that caused the closure of the national park to tourists.
Hundreds of people were evacuated from homes in northwestern Turkey, where authorities were temporarily forced to shut the Dardanelles Strait.
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