Jack Burgess
Live reporter

Image source, EPA-EFE

Before we go, here's a recap of today's main developments as wildfires burn in countries around the Mediterranean.

Greece: A plane fighting wildfires has crashed on the island of Evia, killing two crew members. Meanwhile, Crete - the largest of the Greek islands - was put on high alert because of an extreme risk of fire.

In some good news, the Hellenic National Meteorological Service, external has forecast temperatures will begin falling significantly in the country from Thursday.

Tunisia: Hundreds of Tunisians have been evacuated due to wildfires.

Italy: Extreme weather has affected the country from north to south, with wildfires raging in Sicily and northern regions reeling from violent storms and high winds.

And in the UK: Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been accused of a "failure of leadership", with the Liberal Democrats saying he needs to convene an emergency Cobra meeting to help British holidaymakers affected by wildfires on Rhodes.

Today's live page was edited by me, Marita Moloney, James Harness and Alexandra Fouché.

It was written by Sam Hancock, Antoinette Radford, James Gregory, Emily Atkinson, Ali Abbas Ahmadi, Gem O'Reilly and Jacqueline Howard.

Justin Rowlatt
Climate editor

The World Weather Attribution, external group is a group of scientists who try and discern the fingerprint of climate change in weather events and use computers to model how likely a weather event would be before we put carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

They found the southern European heatwave would have been virtually impossible without climate change.

This is the case for recent heatwaves in southern Asia and the United States too.

What these studies allow us to do is give us an idea of the role climate change is playing right now.

An event that was virtually impossible in pre-industrial times now will become effectively fairly normal weather. Look at the consequences of these high temperatures.

It's a frightening indication of how the global climate is changing.

We are unprepared in terms of adapting to it.

We need to get better at adapting our societies and recognise that climate change will continue to happen until we get control and drive down our use for fossil fuels.

If you are planning to travel to an area that could be affected by the ongoing wildfires, the UK government's latest advice is to contact your travel operator or accommodation provider beforehand to check if your trip will be affected and make sure you have appropriate insurance.

Travellers currently in or near an area affected by wildfires are being advised to call the Greek Emergency Services on 112 if you are in immediate danger.

The advice states that travellers should also follow the guidance of the emergency services.

Anyone affected is also advised to contact their airline or travel operator for assistance with return travel to the UK.

Find more information on the UK government's latest travel advice for Greece here., external

Image source, Reuters

Local residents in Rhodes have teamed up with firefighters to help put out the flames, but many say there is a lack of resources.

Stavros Nikitaras, a nearby resident, is supporting the villagers and firefighters by finding supplies like water and food.

He says: "We don't have any help on the island. You see all the people that are living here. They come to help. I'm not from this village, but I have friends here. So I came to help."

Image source, Reute

Maria Pardalou is a fire volunteer from Vati: "Every year they say.. things will [be] better. Nothing. Every every summer. The same. The same, every summer."

The residents say authorities need to send more than the five planes currently being used to waterbomb the flames.

Laura Gozzi
Live reporter

Image source, Reuters

Elsewhere in Europe, extreme weather has been battering Italy from north to south.

Wildfires are raging in Sicily after weeks of record-breaking temperatures, with local media warning that the city of Palermo is "encircled" by fires.

Northern regions are also reeling from violent storms and high winds that uprooted trees and lifted roofs off buildings. In some places, tennis ball-sized hailstones injured people, damaged cars and destroyed crops.

A 16-year-old girl was killed when a tree fell on the tent she was sleeping in at a summer camp near the city of Brescia, while a middle-aged woman died after also being hit by a falling tree in Lissone, north of Milan.

Overnight, the regions of Lombardy and Veneto experienced torrential rainfall and extremely strong winds, which reached 100km/h (62mph) in Milan.

Read more on this story here.

Azadeh Moshiri
Reporting from Rhodes

Myself, our producer Jack and cameraman Neil have just been evacuated again - we were in the village of Gennadi but are now driving away.

We've seen the smoke and fires grow throughout the day and cover the sun. At this point the sky is almost completely orange.

The smoke is covering so much of the village, that moments ago the police told everyone they had to leave immediately. That even included locals who were distributing water and watching the flames approach.

This is a fire raging between Gennadi and Vati, another village on Rhodes, and it's the same area that firefighters have said is causing such difficulties for them today.

But this is not happening across the island, nor across the whole of Greece. Officials say the wildfire here, on the southern part of Rhodes, affected less than 10% of hotels on the island.

This is the region where holidaymakers had to outrun the flames.

Bassam Bounenni
BBC Arabic, reporting from Tabarka in Tunisia

On the outskirts of the north-western city of Tabarka, just a few kilometres away from the main border post between Tunisia and Algeria, civil defence forces have been kept busy on both sides of the border trying to contain the wildfires.

The landscape is chaotic. The smoke at farms where fires have been put out is still asphyxiating, and air quality levels are still dangerous. Houses are damaged and many roads are closed.

The Tunisian authorities evacuated 300 people from the nearby village of Melloula. Tunisians from neighbouring cities and even from Tunis have started to provide them with aid, including food, water, and blankets, as they have been offered shelters in Tabarka’s school buildings.

Temperatures here have significantly decreased, after days of an unprecedented heatwave, with degrees topping 50C (122F).

Algeria’s civil defence forces have said 80% of the wildfires are under control; some 34 people were killed, including 10 soldiers, and 15 provinces were affected.

North Africa has been experiencing larger wildfires in recent years, which are said to be linked to climate change.

As fires rage in Rhodes and other islands, several parts of Greece and the Mediterranean have been put on high alert because of an extreme risk of fire.

A heatwave across southern Europe and northern Africa has helped to create dry conditions that lets fires take hold.

Read more here about the full extent of fire damage across the Greek islands.

Georgina Rannard
Climate and Science reporter

Climate change is a global issue and is leaving almost no area of the world untouched.

It has the potential to have catastrophic impacts on billions of people and has already changed the way we live, what we eat, and for some people their health.

In the BBC’s Climate team, based in the Welsh capital Cardiff, we report on all parts of the story. That includes the people affected by rising temperatures in the UK and around the world - for example, in India where temperatures such as 48C are becoming more common.

Of course we report on the science and what experts are telling us about the pace and impact of global warming.

We are also always looking out for solutions and what experts say people can do to tackle the problem - like this story about how eating less meat is like taking eight million cars off the roads.

And there’s politics too - the thorny question of how and when exactly governments will address the changing planet.

Read more about climate change in this simple guide.

UK train company London North Eastern Railway (LNER) is offering free travel to some holidaymakers returning from the Greek islands of Rhodes and Corfu.

The train operator says passengers who land at a different airport to the one they usually use, or those forced to travel on a different day, will be able to travel for free along the east coast route.

LNER managing director David Horne says that the company recognises "this is a difficult time for many people in Greece” in the wake of the wildfires.

"At LNER we feel it is the right thing to do to assist those people returning to the UK to make their way home," he says.

Image source, Reuters

Earlier today, the Greek prime minister spoke about the wildfire emergency gripping his country.

Addressing his cabinet, Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the meeting was overshadowed by the fires and unprecedented heat, adding the current crisis was a test for the environment and one for the authorities.

He said there was no "magic defence" for the Mediterraneanean region, which he said was a climate change hotspot, or for the planet as a whole.

The climate crisis would probably continue to worsen, he said, with higher temperatures, more drought and strong winds on the way, leading to a tough summer ahead.

We have footage of various planes dumping water on the island of Rhodes to put out the wildfires there.

Firefighting aircraft tackling a blaze in the village of Gennadi targeted a burning hillside.

The Greek defence ministry has declared a three-day period of mourning in the armed forces for the pilots who lost their lives fighting fires over Evia.

They have been named as 34-year-old Commander Christos Moulas and his co-pilot, 27-year-old Pericles Stefanidis.

Defence Minister Nikos Dendias said they lost their lives "in the line of duty... while attempting to protect the lives and property of citizens, as well as the environment of our country".

"Our thoughts are with their families and colleagues, to whom we extend our most sincere condolences."

Greece's defence ministry has confirmed two Greek air force pilots died when their plane crashed while fighting fires on the island of Evia.

The pilots were identified as a 34-year-old commander and his 27-year-old co-pilot.

Image source, Ben Birchall/PA Wire

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has shown a “failure of leadership” and needs to convene an emergency Cobra meeting to help British holidaymakers affected by wildfires in Rhodes, a spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats has said.

Cobra is an emergency response committee made up of ministers, civil servants and others.

The government should “immediately” change Foreign Office advice to “essential travel only”, the Lib Dem's foreign affairs spokesperson Layla Moran says.

Moran says this will enable British tourists due to fly to Rhodes to “safely cancel their holidays without being left out of pocket”.

Holidays makers are being “let down by this Conservative government” and Sunak is “missing in action when they need him”, adds Moran.

The UK government’s website, external says if you are planning to travel to areas of Greece affected by wildfires to “check with your travel operator or hotel prior to travel”.

Thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes and abandon holidays on Greek islands including Rhodes and Corfu, as fires have spread across the region in recent days.

The flames have destroyed many homes and businesses in the coastal resort town of Kiotari on Rhodes:

Image source, .

Image source, .

Read more here about the full extent of fire damage across Rhodes and Corfu.

Francesca Osborne
BBC Newsbeat

Image source, Katerina Moustakelli

Katerina Moustakelli works on Rhodes as a hotel waitress and says tourists have left - with people who were due to come now cancelling their plans.

“We need tourists to come back. Because of them we’re alive as it’s an island [reliant on] tourism,” she tells BBC Newsbeat.

Anyone who visits will see and hear that “Greeks are united”, she says.

The fires have hit 30-year-old Katerina really close to home, with fire trucks in her yard.

“You cannot breathe easily. I can see the mountain and the trees are burnt.

"All night, we had to stay awake, because there were small places still on fire.

"I had my babies next to me and I’ve had to send them away because of the smoke. It’s painful,” Katerina adds.

Image source, REUTERS/Nicolas Economou

Many parts of Greece have been facing high temperatures this month, upwards of 40C (104F).

But temperatures will begin to fall significantly on Thursday, according to the Hellenic National Meteorological Service, external.

Conditions will change from midday on Wednesday in the northern Ionian Sea, and Epirus and western Macedonian regions, with intermittent thunderstorms and mostly very strong north-westerly wind.

On Thursday, temperatures are expected to fall throughout the country by between 6C to 8C without exceeding 35C to 37C, the meteorological service says.

Katy Austin
Business correspondent

Coach company National Express is offering free travel to Greek holidaymakers who return to a different UK airport than they flew out from.

National Express says it will transport people and any luggage they have back to their original airport, or a different location.

Managing director of National Express Coach, Chris Hardy, has said: “We’ve all seen the horrifying experiences people have had in the Greek wildfires on the news.

"This is the least we can do to help them get back home,” Hardy adds.

Repatriated people who require a free coach ticket are being told they should show proof of their original flight and airport plus the boarding pass of the flight they have taken.

Insaf Abbas
BBC News

On the Greek island of Rhodes, residents have been stepping up to help those affected by the wildfires.

Antonis is a student living in Archaggelos, a village in the east of the island. Since the fires began, he's been bringing in supplies to help neighbours, firefighters and holidaymakers.

But he says volunteers like him have received no help from the local government.

"There aren't any authorities to organise anyone... It's mainly schoolteachers and people from the village using their own money to buy food, medical equipment, masks and gloves," he says.

Most of the tourists, Antonis adds, have been able to go back to their hotels - except for those staying in "five or six" hotels that have burnt down.

Some locals have given up their own homes to provide beds for those tourists, as well as residents whose homes were damaged by the fires.

"The volunteers are alone. Our voices are not being heard by the Greek government and the local media," he says.

"This is going to have a devastating impact on the island, the economy and the climate," Antonis adds.