An estimated 26,000 people may have been forced to flee a vast wildfire raging out of control in the Spanish holiday island of Tenerife, the emergency services said on Saturday, August 19.
"Provisional estimates suggest that more than 26,000 people may have been evacuated," the emergency services wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, citing census data.
In an update late on Friday, the authorities said some 4,500 people had been evacuated since the fire began on Tuesday night.
But the flames spread following a difficult night of "severe weather" characterised by strong winds and higher than expected temperatures, forcing a wave of evacuations from five municipalities in the northern part of the island.
In a press conference shortly before 11:00 GMT, the authorities said they had no immediate update on the numbers of people evacuated. Montse Roman, technical director of the emergency, said the figures were still being collated, while warning it was "possible that further evacuations may take place if the fire spreads."
Pedro Martinez, who is in charge of efforts to quench the blaze, told reporters the fire's perimeter had "most certainly grown a lot" overnight and was "descending steadily" down the mountainside in the northern Santa Ursula area.