700 tourists evacuated by boat from Sicily as wildfires burn

HUNDREDS of tourists have been rescued by boat from a beach resort in Sicily as wildfires blaze across a huge swathe of southern Italy.

More than 700 people were picked up last night as a precaution and additional military personnel were called in to help control the blazes.

Tourists at the Calampiso resort in San Vito Lo Capo, near Trapani, were taken to a primary school and were told it was not safe to return to their rooms.

Other wildfires on the Italian mainland, which prosecutors believe were set intentionally, were encroaching on the Amalfi coast and Mount Vesuvius.

There were no reports of injuries at the Calampiso resort west of the island’s capital Palermo, but the mayor of a nearby town appealed for help in the rescue. “We need minibuses and cars to pick people up at the little port and take them to school buildings,” Matteo Rizzo, mayor of San Vito Lo Capo, wrote on Facebook.

Yesterday, Italy’s Prime Minister, Paolo Gentiloni, said 23 fires were raging, adding the government was “actively following this difficult situation”.

Blazes on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius have sent vast clouds of smoke into the air near the port city of Naples, and Gian Luca Galletti, the environment minister, said a man had been arrested on suspicion of arson.

“If someone set fire to Vesuvius, I want to see them in jail for 15 years,” Galletti told Italian media.

The World Wildlife Fund said thousands of people, animals, and a nature reserve were at risk from the flames around the volcano.