Portugal battles wildfires amid drought and heat

Several thousand firefighters on Sunday battled wildfires in Portugal that authorities say have injured 29 people already. More than 3,000 firefighters were engaged in combating active fires. The government said it had deployed 60 aircraft to support its ground crews.

The European Union on Sunday activated its firefighting air fleet assistance programme that allows member nations to share resources to help Portugal. The wildfires are coming as Portugal is enduring a heat wave with temperatures expected to reach up to 43 degrees Celsius.

At the same time, 96% of the southern European country was classified as being in either in "extreme" or "severe" drought in June. The European Union has warned that climate change has the continent facing one of its hardest years for natural disasters such as droughts and wildfires.