Europe's heatwave turns deadly as 18 burned bodies found in Greek fires

ALEXANDROUPOLIS, Greece (Reuters) - Eighteen charred bodies were found in a remote village in northern Greece on Tuesday where wildfires have been raging for days, the fire brigade said, as a heatwave that has seen red alerts issued across southern Europe turned deadly.

Greek media, without citing sources, said the bodies found south of the village of Avantas were thought to be of migrants. The broader Evros region is a popular route for migrants crossing from Turkey into Greece.

Firefighters were also battling blazes in Spain, Italy and Portugal as the region suffered hot, dry and windy conditions that scientists have linked to climate change.

Temperatures in many parts of the region were expected to reach or exceed 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), forecasters said.

In the Greek port town of Alexandroupolis, not far from Avantas, wildfires forced the evacuation of dozens of hospital patients, including newborn babies. A ferry was turned into a makeshift hospital after 65 patients were evacuated from the University Hospital.

Elderly patients lay on mattresses strewn across the cafeteria floor, paramedics attended to others on stretchers and a woman held a man resting on a sofa, an IV drip attached to his hand.

"I've been working for 27 years, I've never seen anything like this," said nurse Nikos Gioktsidis. "Stretchers everywhere, patients here, IV drips there ... it was like a war, like a bomb had exploded."

On Monday, the burned body of another man, also believed to be a migrant, was found in the region, a police official said. Two new blazes also broke out near the Greek capital Athens.

"Weather conditions are extreme and will remain extreme for the coming days," Fire Service spokesman Vassilis Varthakogiannis told ERT TV.

WILDFIRES IN SPAIN, ITALY

In Spain, where most of the country was in very high or extreme risk of wildfire as a consequence of the summer's fourth heatwave, authorities were struggling to stabilise a huge wildfire that has been ravaging forests on the island of Tenerife for a week.