Three dead as Sicily counts losses from 'devastating' fires

Italian firefighters said they battled nearly 1,400 fires between Sunday and Tuesday

ROME (Reuters) – Italy's southern island of Sicily has been devastated by wildfires that have killed three elderly people, its regional president said, as a heatwave and severe storms further north took a heavy toll.

The charred bodies of a couple in their 70s were found in their burnt-out home on the outskirts of Palermo, the regional capital, according to Italian media reports.

Another woman in her late 80s died in the Palermo province after an ambulance was unable to reach her home due to fires in the area.

In an overnight message on Facebook, Sicilian President Renato Schifani said "scorching heat and unprecedented devastating fires" had turned Tuesday into "one of the most difficult days in decades".

Italian firefighters said they battled nearly 1,400 fires between Sunday and Tuesday, including 650 in Sicily and 390 in Calabria, the southern mainland region where a bedridden 98-year-old man was killed as fire consumed his home.

Fires were still burning on the hills around Palermo on Wednesday, with Canadair planes back in operation to try to douse the flames.

Large areas of the Mediterranean have been sweltering under an intense summer heatwave on Tuesday, causing deadly blazes across the region.

TOURISM FEARS

A fire early last week at Sicily's main airport is still causing massive disruption for visitors to the island, laying bare the disorganisation and poor infrastructure that challenge Italy's tourism ambitions.

The fire broke out on July 17 at Catania airport, below Mount Etna, which acts as a hub for the east of Sicily and attracts more arrivals than the capital Palermo.

The blaze, the cause of which is still being investigated, was swiftly extinguished and nobody was hurt, but in the following nine days thousands of disoriented tourists have complained of huge delays, a lack of information, and flights suddenly re-routed hundreds of miles away.

Some disruption was inevitable, but visitors describe scenes of utter chaos that jar with the government's jaunty "Welcome to Wonder" advertising campaign, which aims to attract tourists using a computerised "influencer" version of Venus.

Italy is trying to boost its appeal as a tourist destination, and a boom in arrivals this year has supported the economy as the manufacturing sector has struggled.

"We are now told our flight won't leave before 6 p.m. (1600 GMT). We have been here since 5 a.m. and our flight got cancelled at 11:55 this morning," Julie, a stranded tourist from California told Reuters at the airport.

She said she enjoyed her holiday between the island's hot spots of Taormina and Syracuse, but feels she won't come back to Italy very soon.

"I understand the fire (at the airport) ... but it feels very disorganised," she said.

Confused and infuriated tourists have complained of the airport's public address system breaking down and instructions being given by staff using megaphones, and only in Italian.

The regional government says the situation is gradually improving, and it is confident the airport can return to full capacity by early August.

Palermo, the island's second-largest airport, was also temporarily shut down on Tuesday due to nearby forest fires.

HEATWAVE

Temporary tent-like structures have been built outside a small terminal in Catania to help cope with the flows of passengers, as clean-up operations go on in the main building.

"I could still smell burned plastic when I got to the airport," said Maria Grazia Salamone, who took a flight to Rome from Catania on July 24.

"Airport people were shouting the names of the flights to be boarded, but what happens if you don't hear them?," she said.

The situation in Catania - where some 300,000 people live - has been compounded by a heatwave with temperatures above 45° Celsius (113°F), power cuts and disruptions to the water supply in the city and nearby towns.

Ugo Zinna, who travelled to Genoa from Catania on Tuesday, said his flight was delayed for two hours and he had to wait in a makeshift building with a tensile roof that gave little protection from the blazing sun.

Catania's city council has set up a hotline and places offering daytime shelter with air conditioning for citizens needing assistance due to black-outs and lack of water.

"We had candle-lit dinners on Monday and Tuesday as we had no power for five hours from five until 10 in the evening," said Alfio Guglielmino from the small town of Belpasso in the province of Catania.