Montenegro battles wildfires

FIREFIGHTERS in Montenegro battled for a third day yesterday to douse wildfires along the Adriatic coast, hoping to put them under control after international help arrived.

Further north along the coast in Croatia, where a dozen wildfires also broke out on Sunday in villages around the tourist destination of Split, the situation was returning to normal, officials said.

“We expect a fire-fighting plane that has arrived from Ukraine to join in . . . Fires could be localised and put under control during the day,” Montenegrin fire-fighting chief Zoran Babic told local media.

Montenegro sought international help two days ago to battle the flames. Swiss and Bulgarian helicopters and a waterbombing plane from Israel were expected to arrive later yesterday. — AFP