Mediterranean rim battles to contain devastating wildfires

Firefighters battled blazes in five countries along the northern Mediterranean rim, slowly gaining the upper hand after an exhausting week that left eight people dead.

Tens of thousands of hectares of countryside have been devastated mainly in Italy, Spain, France and Greece with initial estimates suggesting that the insurance bill may already run into hundreds of millions of euro.

New fires were sparked on Sunday in some of the worst hit areas, but also in Croatia, with the latest fire again blamed on arson following recriminations over criminal fire-starting elsewhere.

On the scorched Italian island of Sardinia, as many as 25,000 hectares have been razed by a flaming inferno fanned by high temperatures and an extra-strong Mistral, a fast and dry northerly wind.

By late Sunday, firefighters had extinguished four fires that had earlier been burning on the island, a spokesman for Italy's civil protection corps said.

Sardinia remained the Italian hotspot, with the damage there alone estimated at €80 million.

Ten specialist water-dropping planes, including two Canadairs sent in by the EU joined in the operation.

Amid the devastation, there have also been recriminations with mourners in Sardinia, where a shepherd and a farmer were killed trying to protect their animals, blaming some of its blazes on criminals and vandals.

"It is unacceptable that in our region there are still criminal minds capable of such acts," said the head of the Sardinian region, Ugo Cappellacci, at the funeral of one of the victims. In Spain, dozens of firefighters backed by two water-dropping aircraft were battling a blaze that broke out Sunday on farmland near the airport at Palma de Mallorca in the Balearic Islands, local officials said.

The wildfire was threatening several homes but did not disrupt air travel at the airport, Spain's third-busiest in terms of passenger traffic, they said. Six firefighters have already died in Spain while tackling infernos that changed course with sudden ferocity. The interior ministry said that officials remained on maximum alert with about 20,000 hectares reduced to smouldering earth this past week.

In Croatia, the island of Ciovo, off the coastal town of Split, was the latest to be hit. Firefighters said some 200 hectares of woodland had already gone up in flames. Once again, they suspected arson.

In France, where a French Foreign Legion officer was charged on Saturday with "involuntary fire-starting" over a blaze that reached the gates of Marseille, firefighters said the Mistral was easing.

The 43-year-old soldier - just back from Afghanistan and responsible for the release of tracer rounds in training that sparked the blaze - was released on bail, but left contemplating potential ignominy after 23 years in the world-famous regiment.

On the French island of Corsica, which pratically touches Sardinia, two suspected arsonists, who have been remanded in custody and charged, were questioned by a magistrate yesterday, said prosecutor general Paul Michel.

"The two farmers, aged 24 and 21, admitted to setting five blazes in three villages in the Rapale area," he said after police arrested the pair on Friday and Saturday after a tip-off.

A third suspect, arrested earlier, is still in custody.

Meanwhile in Greece, firefighters were trying to put out three forest blazes in the south of the country amid high temperatures and strong winds.