Firefighters battled blazes across Turkey and Bulgaria on Monday as a deadly heat wave went into a second week around much of the Mediterranean.

More than 1,700 people have been evacuated and the main highway has been closed. The fire is threatening homes, quarries, and industrial facilities.

The two died in hospital after they were pulled from a water tanker that rolled while heading to a forest fire in the north west, a news agency said.

Relentless forest fires continue to wreak havoc across Turkey, with the latest casualty reported from northwestern Bursa province, where a firefighter tragically lost his life while battling the fast-spreading blaze.

Greece and Turkey continue to battle major wildfires amid a severe heatwave. Temperatures reached 42.4C in central Greece at the weekend, with emergency services battling fires in the Peloponnese area of Athens and on the popular tourist islands of Kytheria and Crete.

Wildfires that have engulfed Turkey for weeks threatened the country’s fourth-largest city early Sunday, causing hundreds of people to flee their homes. Overnight fires in the forested mountains surrounding Bursa in northwest Turkey spread rapidly, bringing a red glow to the night sky over the city’s eastern suburbs.

Wildfires that have engulfed Turkey for weeks threatened the country’s fourth-largest city early Sunday, causing hundreds of people to flee their homes.

In Turkey, three volunteer firefighters were killed when their vehicle overturned near Bursa, and at least 17 people have died in fires since late June. View on euronews