ROME - Six hundred people have been evacuated from Italy's second-largest island of Sardinia in the Mediterranean Sea because of wildfires that engulfed the northeastern and southern parts of the island on Sunday, Sputnik quoted local media Il Fatto Quotidiano reports.
Residents of the city of Posada on the east coast of the island, as well as tourists vacationing in hotels and beaches, have been among those evacuated, the report said.
Strong winds have contributed to the spread of the wildfires. The island's fire services have closed a 40 km stretch of a highway between the cities of Siniscola and Olbia as a precaution. Seven aeroplanes are engaged in battling the wildfires, dropping seawater on the flames. Twelve units of firefighting equipment are involved in the firefighting operations on the ground, the newspaper reported.
The newspaper cited Christian Solinas, the president of Sardinia, as saying that he urged civil defence services to strengthen the firefighting air fleet and send an early warning about the activation of the European Civil Defence Mechanism.
The president did not rule out that the fires could have resulted from arson and instructed forestry services to step up measures to find those responsible.
The southern regions of Italy, especially the largest and most populous island of Sicily, were hit by wildfires in July.
Wildfires spread due to abnormal heat, which was brought to the Apennines from Africa by the anti-cyclone Charon. Three people have died from the fires and heat in Sicily, and the damage from the disaster has amounted to at least €260 million (US$286 million). - BERNAMA