More than 10,000 flee as wildfires still blaze in southern France

Thousands of people in south-eastern France have been forced to evacuate as wildfires continued to rage for a second day on Wednesday.

At least 10,000 people fled raging fires near Bormes-les-Mimoses in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of the country, a day after France had requested help from its European neighbours to tackle flames which had broken out, including near the resort of Saint Tropez.

Hundreds of firefighters were deployed to tackle fires in the region, with a several dozen emergency services reported by authorities to have been injured or affected by smoke inhalation since the fires broke out on Monday.

Around 4,000 hectares of land had already burned along the Mediterranean coast and on the island of Corsica, while other wildfires have hit amid dry conditions as far and wide as Portugal, Italy and Albania.

The wildfires began blazing along France’s Mediterranean coast two days ago, with flames reaching the edge of Saint-Tropez.

Even 80km inland, forests caught light, with local officials blaming the authorities for failing to regularly remove dry undergrowth, making forests a fire hazard.