Large areas of the Mediterranean sweltered under an intense summer heat wave on Tuesday and firefighters battled to put out blazes across the region.

In Algeria, at least 34 people have died. In Croatia, flames came within 12 kilometers of the medieval town of Dubrovnik late on Tuesday.

Greece has been particularly hard hit, with authorities evacuating more than 20,000 people in recent days from homes and resorts in the south of the holiday island of Rhodes.