Foreign teams join battle on Evia Island

Firefighters from several European countries are helping Greek teams on the island of Evia to contain wildfires raging near a major town.

Water-bombing helicopters are dousing the flames near Istiaia, at the island's northern tip. Ukraine, Romania and Serbia sent help to the fire zone.

Evia is just north of Athens, where fires on the northern outskirts are now less intense.

Besides Greece, there are also big wildfires in Italy, Algeria and Russia.

Thousands of people have been evacuated from villages in Greece, which is also getting firefighting help from some other EU countries, Switzerland and the UK.

The EU said it was mobilising "one of Europe's biggest-ever common firefighting operations" to help Greece and other affected countries.

Firebreaks have been created around Istiaia, where Mayor Yiannis Kontzias said: "We have managed to control this front because we doused it from the land and air."

More than 850 firefighters are being assisted by at least a dozen helicopters.

More than 500 wildfires have been raging across Greece this month, fuelled by strong winds and parched vegetation. Foreign teams are also helping to tackle blazes in the Peloponnese.

The wildfires have also proven deadly for migrating storks. Every year the birds head south near Athens to winter in Africa, but now they have turned up in parts of the capital for the first time, apparently confused by the billowing smoke.

"It is the first time we have had so many dead storks in Athens," said Maria Ganoti of Anima, a conservation group which is rescuing injured birds. "People in Athens are picking up dead storks from their lawns."

The current heatwave has pushed temperatures to 45C in Greece and parts of southern Italy.