The Latest Breaking News from Mediterranean

Thousands of people on the beach. Children reportedly falling off evacuation boats. Panic. People fleeing with the clothes on their backs. It felt like “the end of the world”, according to one tourist.

A plane fighting wildfires in Greece crashed killing two airmen on Tuesday, as large areas of the Mediterranean sweltered under an intense summer heatwave and Algeria battled to control an inferno in which at least 34 people have died.

They rise just north of the sprawling coastal resort of Antalya, but Turkey’s western Taurus Mountains are a sparsely populated “hard-bitten corner of the Mediterranean hinterland”, home to timeless villages and “barely explored” ancient ruins.

Tourists are choosing milder destinations such as Ireland and Denmark as the heatwave over southern Europe leads to sea temperatures of up to 30c in Spain

Thousands find themselves trapped in the inferno currently gripping the Mediterranean. From wildfire fears to abandoned trips, Isolde Walters and Katie Strick speak to the Londoners enduring holidays in hell

Extreme heat across the Mediterranean is expected to build into the weekend, testing records in fire-ravaged Greece after easing slightly on Thursday.

Temperatures around the world are soaring. Both California’s Death Valley and China’s Xinjiang region have seen temperatures climb above the 50℃ mark. A blistering heatwave is also sweeping across the Mediterranean, causing temperatures in parts of Italy, Spain, France and Greece to exceed 40℃.

A deadly heatwave is sweeping Europe, with ground temperatures in Spain hitting more than 60C

Temperatures of up 40 degrees Celsius are expected again in parts of the south of France and the Mediterranean island of Corsica Thursday, as the whole of southern Europe struggles with extreme heatwaves.