Firemen battle blaze near Spain’s wildlife park

Madrid, June 26 (IANS) Hundreds of firemen and members of Spain's Military Emergency Response Unit (UME) worked through Sunday night and into Monday morning to contain a wildfire on the borders of the Donana National Park in southwest Spain.

The fire, which started on Saturday night, comes barely a week after wildfires killed 64 people in neighbouring Portugal, Xinhua news agency reported.

It saw over 2,000 people evacuated from nearby campsites, hotels and also led to the closure of most roads in the area.

Sunday saw dramatic scenes with around 50,000 people stranded in the coastal resort of Matalascanas as flames caused the road to the town to be cut.

Images posted on the social media showed a large plume of smoke hanging in the sky with the flames clearly visible in the distance.

Firemen were able to reopen roads in the region at around 1.30 a.m. and have so far been able to prevent the flames reaching the Donana National Park.

Monday morning began with 200 firemen, plus 244 members of the UME working to extinguish the three main focal points of fire with the help of 15 fire engines, heavy machinery to clear fire-breaks and seven aircraft and helicopters.

Donana is home to over 400 different species, including the endangered Iberian lynx and the Spanish imperial eagle.

Spanish Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido and President of the Andalusian Regional Government Susana Diaz were expected to visit the zone later in the day.

Investigations continue into the cause of the fire after Diaz commented that it could have been done intentionally.

(This story has not been edited by Social News XYZ staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)