Massive fire near Marseille: 110 injured, airport resumes operations after interruption

In France, firefighters continue to battle a forest fire that has reached the outskirts of Marseille and injured more than 100 people, UNN reports with reference to the BBC.

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Mayor Benoît Payan told local media on Wednesday morning that the fire was "dying down" but was still not fully under control.

Restrictions imposed yesterday on the outskirts of Marseille have been lifted due to a "significant reduction" in the spread of the fire, the mayor wrote on X.

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 110 people, including nine firefighters and 22 police officers, suffered minor injuries since Tuesday.

According to French media, at least 400 people have been evacuated from their homes.

Earlier, residents were urged to stay at home and not evacuate without proper orders to keep roads clear for emergency vehicles.

Earlier, Mayor Payan stated that the "naval fire battalion is fighting a guerrilla war, holding hoses in their hands," referring to the Marseille fire and rescue service.

According to the mayor, at its peak, the fire spread at a rate of 1.2 km per minute, according to French TV channel BFMTV. He attributed this to a combination of wind gusts, dense vegetation, and steep slopes.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who was on a state visit to the UK, expressed support for the firefighters and urged residents to follow safety rules.

Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau arrived in Marseille on Tuesday evening, where he met with local authorities. He reported that about 800 firefighters were at the scene of the fire, and extinguishing the fire would continue "all night" as the fire had not yet been contained.

Marseille Provence Airport stated that flights would resume "without restrictions" on Wednesday at 9:30 local time, but disruptions were expected. The airport, one of the busiest in France, partially resumed operations on Tuesday at 21:30 local time after being closed for the day. Airport President Julien Coffinier said he had "never faced a situation of this magnitude."

The fire, which broke out earlier on Tuesday near Pennes-Mirabeau, north of Marseille, is reported to have covered an area of about 700 hectares (7 sq km).

Local authorities said the cause of the fire was a car that caught fire on the highway.

Footage showed huge plumes of smoke over Marseille as the fire raged in the hilly terrain to its north.

According to BFMTV, there has been no rain in the Bouches-du-Rhône region since May 19.

In other parts of France, another forest fire that started near Narbonne on Monday remains active, fanned by 60 km/h winds. According to local authorities, about 2,000 hectares of land have burned.

Forest fires have also been reported in other parts of Europe, including Catalonia in northeastern Spain, where on Tuesday more than 18,000 people were ordered to stay home due to a forest fire in the eastern province of Tarragona.

Emergency assistance was provided along with 300 firefighters as strong winds fanned the flames overnight, which covered almost 3,000 hectares of land.

Several other regions of Spain, where June was the hottest on record, have declared a heightened alert for forest fires.

In Greece, about 41 forest fires broke out across the country on Monday. According to the fire service, 34 of them were contained in the shortest possible time, and seven remained active until Monday evening.

Most of Western and Southern Europe has been affected by a grueling early summer heatwave, leading to fires that have forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes.

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