Croatia wildfire kills one, injures dozens; thousands evacuated

A severe wildfire that swept through Croatia's coastal region on Thursday night and Friday morning has left at least one person dead and around 40 others injured. The blaze started near the village of Lokva Rogoznica on Thursday evening and quickly advanced to the nearby tourist town of Omis, roughly six kilometres away.

About 1,200 residents and tourists were evacuated, with ten people hospitalised in intensive care, according to the prime minister. Croatia's fire chief Slavko Tucakovic described the incident as one of the worst fires in the country's history, as the flames moved through pine-covered hillsides and caused extensive damage to homes and cars near the Adriatic city of Split.

Strong winds helped the fire engulf 1,000 hectares in just four hours, burning "everything in their path", Tucakovic said. More than 300 firefighters were deployed overnight, and crews sometimes had to retreat as the fire advanced. Footage shared on social media showed thick smoke and large flames turning the sky red, while stranded residents and tourists watched. Some people reportedly jumped into the sea from boats to escape.

Emergency shelters were opened in several coastal towns, and evacuations continued through the night. On Friday, a body was found in a burnt-out area, officials said. Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic visited the affected zone and praised emergency services, saying the fire had spread at "lightning speed" with "gale-force winds" and that it was "truly a miracle" that firefighters had saved what they did.

The commander of the Omis volunteer fire department, Viseslav Pesic, told Reuters that the fire was so intense that people had abandoned vehicles "directly in the fire zone", which made it difficult for emergency crews to pass.

The wildfire in Croatia is part of a broader pattern across Europe, where firefighters are under intense pressure and resources are strained amid extreme heat and dry conditions. In Greece, more than 200 people were evacuated by boat from a beach resort at Agios Vasileios, while over 500 residents left their homes in the Landes region of south-western France. More than 2,000 people were evacuated from the village of Gey in western Germany as a forest fire approached near the Belgian border. Meanwhile, authorities in England and Wales sent an emergency wildfire alert to millions of people on Friday, warning of a "very high risk" of fires as crews battled blazes in the West Midlands.