'HEAT APOCALYPSE': Horrifying video emerges as European fires run rampant
WARNING - GRAPHIC CONTENT: A disturbing heatwave is intensifying across Europe, with terrifying video capturing the devastation caused as vast wildfires continue to spread.
Meteorologists have described the unbearable conditions as a "heat apocalypse" as deaths across several nations mount.
Experts fear the heatwave will shatter records set in a 2003 event, which claimed the lives of 70,000 people, French network France 24 reported.
One distressing moment captured on camera shows a man on fire narrowly escaping death in the northwestern Spanish town of Tabara.
Identified as excavator Angel Martin Arjona who was attempting to protect his town, TV footage shows him fleeing after his digger was surrounded by flames. A firefighter rushed to his aid and he was airlifted to hospital with burns, Reuters reported.
Another video shows train passengers surrounded on both sides by wildfires as their train stopped in the province of Zamora.
not what you want to see on your morning commute…
fires in spain surrounding train trackspic.twitter.com/Z6ncXwM6cU— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) July 18, 2022
In Portugal, an elderly couple were found inside a burned-out vehicle as they tried t o escape wildfires in northern municipality of Murça.
"We found the car completely charred... the couple died inside the car," Mayor Mario Artur Lopes said.
"It is a completely dramatic situation that is happening in the municipality of Murça... more than half of the municipality on fire."
Global warming 'hitting us full in the face'
France is experiencing devastating wildfires which have forced tens of thousands of homes housing locals and holidaymakers to evacuate in the west.
Data from earth observation programme Copernicus reveals the land size destroyed by fires in France this year is three times the annual average over the past 15 years. More than 13,000 hectares have been destroyed in the Gironde area.
Local firefighter Jean-Luc Gleyze said global warming was "hitting us full in the face", The Guardian reported.
Brits sweltered through the start of what is expected to be a record heatwave on Monday, with temperatures reaching 38.1C. One prediction says up to 2000 lives in the UK could be lost due to the heat.
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