Twenty-five people, including 10 soldiers, have been killed in forest fires in Algeria’s mountainous regions of Bejaia and Bouira, authorities say.
It came as a heatwave spreads across north Africa and southern Europe, with about 7500 firefighters battling to bring the flames under control on Monday, authorities said.
The interior ministry said that it was continuing its firefighting operations in the Boumerdes, Bouira, Tizi Ouzou, Jijel, Bejaia and Skikda regions.
About 1500 people have been relocated so far.
A major heatwave is sweeping across north Africa, with temperatures of 49 degrees in some cities in neighbouring Tunisia.
In Tunisia, wildfires swept through the border town of Melloula.
Witnesses told Reuters that fires that had begun in mountainous areas had reached some people’s homes in the town and forced hundreds of families to flee.
A civil protection official said that they had relocated hundreds of the town’s residents by land and by sea, in fishermen’s boats and coastguard vessels.
Rhodes still ablaze
In Greece, holiday makers still in their swimwear were hurriedly evacuated as dozens of wildfires tore across the island of Rhodes when temperatures reached the mid-40s.
Firefighters struggled to contain 82 wildfires across Greece, 64 of which started Sunday, the hottest day of the summer so far.
Their efforts were without the help of firefighting planes and helicopters, which do not operate at night.
The most serious fire was on the island of Rhodes. Some 19,000 people had been evacuated from several locations on the island as wildfires burned for a sixth day, Greek authorities said.
The Ministry of Climate Change and Civil Protection said it was “the largest evacuation from a wildfire in the country.”
Local police said 16,000 people were evacuated by land and 3000 by sea from 12 villages and several hotels.
A number of tourists were waiting to fly back home from Rhodes International Airport.
The package holiday companies TUI and Jet2 cancelled flights to Rhodes.