BRIT holidaymakers were last night evacuated from a five-star hotel in Portugal after a wildfire came dangerously close to the upmarket resort.
Hundreds of tourists had to leave the Macdonald Monchique Resort & Spa on the Algarve just after midnight as flames came within a mile of the complex.
They were bussed to hotels in the resort of Portimao, a half-hour drive south on the coast.
One hotel worker said: “Firefighters and the local town hall asked us to evacuate.
“We could see the flames because the fire was only about one to two kilometres away.
“The hotel’s maximum capacity is 500 people and most of our guests at this time of the year are British.
“Everyone was evacuated safely. We hope they can come back today but as things stand this morning they’re not back yet and are still at the hotels in Portimao they were taken to.”
Although he was not able to specify the exact number of people ordered to leave, overnight reports said the hotel had been about 70% full when the evacuation took place.
More than 1,000 firefighters were still tackling the blaze this morning.
A 72-year-old woman - one of 24 people injured - was airlifted to hospital in Lisbon in a serious condition.
Temperatures in the capital exceeded a roasting 47C last week.
Dramatic footage taken overnight by locals living in Monchique, a favourite of former PM David Cameron and his family, show a blanket of flames and smokes encroaching on buildings in the outskirts.
Earlier in the day residents and holidaymakers in Portugal were filmed watching on worried from a beauty spot above the town as the inferno engulfed forest land the other side.
Several cars and buildings are said to have been destroyed by flames.
Villages near to Monchique - including Portela do Vento and Odemira - were evacuated.
Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said he was in constant contact with local authorities but tried to play down fears of a repeat of last year’s devastating wildfires which killed 64 people and injured more than 250 in the central town of Pedrogao Grande alone.
He said: “At this moment the situation is a confined and limited situation and that is undoubtedly the difference to what happened last year.”
The Monchique wildfire broke out in a forest around 1.30pm in an area called Perna da Negra in the wake of a heatwave which have seen temperatures soar to 46C in some parts of the country.
In Spain, the heatwave has been linked to three deaths, two in Murcia in the south-east and one in Barcelona.
Seven people needed hospital treatment for smoke inhalation in the municipality of La Codosera in the province of Badajoz near Spain’s border with Portugal on Saturday as temperatures soared to 43 degrees Celsius (109.5 degrees Fahrenheit).
Authorities say they have now bought the blaze under control and are investigating whether it was caused by a local having a barbecue.
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