International

Portugal on alert over fears of fresh wildfire threat

AFP

Portugal, hit by a third heatwave after weeks of wildfires, was on a 24-hour national alert Monday to counter the threat posed by more blazes, authorities said.

Under its measures, the authorities have restricted access forests and banned fireworks displays, as well as stepping up the state of readiness of the emergency services.

Having only just brought under control a fire that destroyed more than 28,000 hectares (69,000 acres) in the Serra da Estrela national park, civil protection authorities said firefighters were tackling another blaze in the central northern Vila Real region.

“According to provisional estimates, this fire has burnt 4,500 hectares,” emergency and civil protection services head Andre Fernandes said of the blaze in a hard-to-access mountainous area.

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Two Canadair water bomber planes sent by Greece under the terms of an EU-wide civil protection support mechanism were aiding firefighters’ efforts.

The government issued the alert Sunday after identifying a heightened risk of rural fires as temperatures look set to hit 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) Monday and Tuesday amid an ongoing severe drought.

The latest heatwave comes with Portugal having experienced its hottest July in almost a century.

Since January, the country’s Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests says more than 94,000 hectares of land have been laid waste to in Portugal’s worst forest fires since 2017, when a series of blazes cost dozens of lives.

Portugal last Wednesday finally extinguished a fire which had burnt more than 25,000 hectares of land in the UNESCO-listed central mountainous area of Serra da Estrela, home to diverse wildlife species including wildcats and lizards.

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Minister of the Presidency Marina Vieira da Silva said after meeting mayors of affected municipalities that Lisbon was declaring “a state of natural disaster” to allow the release of rapid aid.

The government is also drawing up a “revitalisation plan” for the Serra da Estrela park.

The consensus among scientists is that climate change has increased the probability of heatwaves, leading to drought and more forest fires.

International

Death toll from southern Spain train crash rises to 40

The death toll from the train accident that occurred on Sunday in southern Spain has risen to 40, according to investigative sources cited by EFE on Monday afternoon.

Since early Monday, search operations have focused on the damaged carriages of a Renfe train bound for Huelva, which collided with the last derailed cars of an Iryo train traveling from Málaga to Madrid after it left the tracks.

The crash has also left more than 150 people injured. Of these, 41 remain hospitalized, including 12 in intensive care units at hospitals across the Andalusia region.

More than 220 Civil Guard officers are working at the site, searching the railway line and surrounding areas for key evidence to help identify victims and determine the causes of the accident.

The tragedy has revived memories of the deadliest railway disasters in Europe in recent decades. In Spain, the most severe occurred on July 24, 2013, when an Alvia train derailed near Santiago de Compostela, killing 80 people and injuring 130 others.

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At the European level, the worst rail disaster took place on June 3, 1998, in Eschede, northern Germany, when a high-speed train struck a bridge pillar at 200 kilometers per hour, resulting in 98 deaths and 120 injuries.

International

Spain’s Prime Minister pledges transparency after train crash kills at least 39

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez pledged on Monday to ensure “absolute transparency” regarding the causes of a train crash that killed at least 39 people on Sunday in southern Spain, warning that the death toll could still rise.

The fatal accident occurred in the Andalusia region, where the number of confirmed deaths reached 39 by Monday morning, according to a spokesperson for the Ministry of the Interior.

Authorities were preparing to deploy heavy machinery to lift several derailed train cars. “We are waiting for cranes to be installed this morning to lift cars one, two and three of the Alvia train, which suffered the most damage,” said Andalusian regional president Juanma Moreno Bonilla on regional television. “It is likely that once they are lifted, we may find more victims,” he added.

The disaster also left more than 120 people injured. As of Monday afternoon, 43 victims remained hospitalized, including 12 in intensive care, according to emergency services.

International

Over 160 christian worshippers kidnapped in Kaduna Church attacks

More than 160 Christian worshippers were abducted on Sunday during coordinated attacks carried out by armed gangs on two churches in a remote village in Kaduna State, northern Nigeria, according to a cleric and a United Nations report accessed by AFP on Monday.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, has witnessed a renewed surge in mass kidnappings since November, prompting the United States government to carry out military strikes on Christmas Day in the northwestern state of Sokoto.

U.S. President Donald Trump accused Nigerian armed groups of targeting Christians, describing the violence as a form of “genocide” against the religious community.

According to Reverend Joseph Hayab, president of the Christian Association of Nigeria in the north, the attackers arrived in large numbers, blocked access to the churches, and forced worshippers to flee into nearby forests.

“The attackers came in large numbers, sealed off the entrances to the churches, and drove the faithful into the bush,” Hayab told AFP.