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STV News
4 days ago
- Climate
- STV News
At least three dead as wildfires rage across southern Europe
Some European countries have sent forces to Greece and Montenegro to help tackle the fires, as ITV News' Chloe Keedy reports. At least three people have died and thousands have been forced to flee as wildfires continued to rage across southern Europe and the continent experiences a wave of extreme heat. Firefighting resources were stretched thin in many affected countries as they battled multiple outbreaks following weeks of heat waves and temperature spikes across Mediterranean Europe. Fires blazed on the Greek mainland, the Patras area and the islands of Zakynthos and Chios. Alongside firefighting efforts, residents have been trying to hold the flames off with buckets of water. Outside the Greek port city of Patras, firefighters struggled to protect homes and agricultural facilities as flames tore through olive groves. Residents were forced to flee with their pets into the sea, as the fire moved closer to the beaches. They were rescued by the Hellenic Red Cross, who transported them to safety by boat. On the Greek island of Chios, exhausted firefighters slept on the roadside after working all night to douse the flames. International cooperation has been required to tackle the large number of fires. Romanian and Czech fire crews were deployed to Megara, around 40 kilometres from Athens. Burned cars sit in a lot near Patras in Greece. / Credit: AP Greece, in turn, sent assistance to neighbouring Albania, where an 80-year-old man died in a blaze south of the capital, Tirana, officials said on Wednesday. Residents of four villages were evacuated in central Albania near a former army ammunition depot. In the southern Korca district, near the Greek border, explosions were reported from buried Second World War-era artillery shells. Montenegro has received aid from a number of countries after dozens of fires sparked across the nation. Croatia and Italy sent firefighting planes, Serbia and Croatia sent helicopters, and Australia dispatched firefighting crews. A Montenegrin soldier died and another was seriously injured on Tuesday, after a water tanker overturned. The accident was caused by reduced visibility from the thick smoke, according to authorities. Fires light up the mountainside on Tuesday night, near Montenegro's capital Podgorica. A firefighting volunteer in the hard-hit Castile and León region north of Madrid, where thousands have been displaced by evacuations, died fighting the blaze. Evacuation centres were full in parts of central Spain, with some people forced to spend the night outdoors on folding beds. Spain's government raised its national emergency response level, preparing additional support for regional authorities overseeing multiple evacuations and highway closures. A forestry worker was also killed on Wednesday while responding to a wildfire in southern Turkey, officials said. The Forestry Ministry said the worker died in an accident involving a fire engine that left four others injured. Turkey has been battling severe wildfires since late June. A total of 18 people have been killed, including 10 rescue volunteers and forestry workers who died in July. A seaplane drops water on a wildfire in Maceda, northwestern Spain. / Credit: AP In Portugal, more than 700 firefighters attempted to douse a fire in Trancoso, northeast of Lisbon. It was believed the fire was close to being extinguished on Tuesday after burning for five days, but high winds overnight reignited it several times, causing flames to creep closer to houses. One woman told Portugal's public broadcasting channel that residents had to step in to protect nearby buildings, as firefighters were deployed elsewhere. Authorities across European countries have cited multiple causes for the massive fires, including careless farming practices, improperly maintained power cables and summer lightning storms. Europe has also experienced another period of extreme heat, with temperatures soaring past 40 degrees Celsius in some areas. Scientists have warned that climate change is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness across the south of Europe. The continent is warming up faster than any other in the world. Temperatures have increased at twice the speed of the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Services. Last year was the hottest on record, both globally and in Europe, according to the monitoring agency. Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
ITV News
27-06-2025
- ITV News
More than 45 people linked to Post Office scandal under criminal investigation, police say
ITV News has learnt that more than 45 people are now under investigation in connection with the Post Office Horizon scandal, as ITV News Reporter Chloe Keedy explains More than 45 individuals are under criminal investigation in connection with the Post Office Horizon scandal, with seven formally identified as suspects, according to the Met Police and National Police Chiefs' Council. Commander Stephen Clayman, who is leading the investigation - known as Operation Olympus - did not disclose any names, but said the individuals include Post Office investigators, solicitors and a "chain of management". "We are beginning to look at the layers of management and that will, in time, extend to executive members and board members," he told ITV News. "Obviously we're building cases here around perjury and perverting the course of justice. They're very serious offences. "So we have to be really detailed and understand what part a person played in that particular investigation or litigation," he added. A man and woman, both in their 60s, were interviewed under caution in late 2021, and a man in his 60s was interviewed under caution late last year. Earlier this year, police interviewed another man in his 60s. No arrests have been made yet. For investigators, progress has been slow, but significant. Since starting the operation six months ago, the team was scaled up to over 100 officers and staff from across the UK and the volume of material under review has quadrupled from 1.5 million to six million documents. These numbers, along with the total of suspects, are expected to rise further. "What I can say is, is that I'm really confident the team is building a really robust case, which, of course, the Crown Prosecution Service will look at and make that final decision," Clayman told ITV News. "But I'm really confident that the investigative strategy is really sound." Former Post Office manager Janine Powell, 53, told ITV News she thinks it will be "a long while before we even see any progress." The 53-year-old was wrongfully accused of stealing more than £74,000 from her branch in Tiverton, Devon. She was sentenced to 18 months in prison, and served five of them. "They're not sorry at all and I just think maybe they should go through what we've all had to go through, what our children had to go through, our family. I've had to start over again and again and its not easy," she said. Her daughter, Sophia, who was ten when Janine was sent to prison, said potential convictions of people responsible for the scandal will not take away from her childhood drama. "Even if people get convicted, its never going to change anything that's happened. It's not going to bring my childhood as a ten-year-old back. "They will never truly understand or feel what we went through. We had to start from scratch." Between 1999 and 2015, more than 900 subpostmasters were prosecuted after faulty Horizon accounting software made it look as though money was missing from their accounts. A total of 236 sub-postmasters were sent to prison.
