UAE Issues Advisory For Citizens In France After 1 Dead, 13 Injured In Wildfires

The UAE mission in Paris has issued an advisory to citizens in the country, urging them to "exercise caution and vigilance due to the wildfires in the Vaucluse region of southern France".

In an advisory on X, the mission urged citizens to adhere to the safety instructions issued by local authorities. It also listed emergency contact numbers, which are: 0097180024 or 0097180044444.

Citizens can also use the Tawajudi service in case of emergency.

French firefighters said Thursday they were hoping to halt the country's biggest wildfire this summer that has left one person dead and destroyed several thousand hectares of land and dozens of homes in the south.

Around 2,000 firefighters were still mobilised Thursday in France's southern Aude department to contain the blaze that started Tuesday. Thirteen people have been injured, two of them seriously.

The fire advanced much more slowly overnight to Thursday than at the start, when it engulfed around 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) per hour, according to the authorities in the nearby city of Narbonne.

A 65-year-old woman, who had refused to evacuate, was found dead in her scorched house, while 13 people were injured, 11 of them firefighters.

The wildfire is a "catastrophe on an unprecedented scale", Prime Minister Francois Bayrou said Wednesday during a visit to the affected region.

"What is happening today is linked to global warming and linked to drought," Bayrou said.

The blaze has burned around 17,000 hectares of land.

Around 3,000 homes were still threatened by the fire Thursday, firefighters said, while around 1,000 people who had been evacuated in the area were not yet cleared to return home.

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