Two injured in wildfire on Spain's Costa del Sol

A wildfire raging a short distance from Spain's famed Costa del Sol beach resorts left two people injured on Sunday, emergency services said.

The blaze broke out in hilly terrain outside Benahavis, an affluent village home to a large foreign community including many Britons, emergency services in the southern Andalusia region said in a statement.

Winds of up to 50 kilometres (31 miles) per hour and the steep slopes fuelled "a very rapid spread" of the flames, which were visible from the upmarket Mediterranean resort of Marbella, they said.

"One person has suffered burns while trying to put out the fire, and a forest firefighter was injured after suffering a fall," the emergency services wrote on X.

Authorities ordered the approximately 9,500 residents of Benahavis, a picturesque village characterised by white homes and narrow streets, and surrounding settlements to stay indoors.

A nearby housing development was evacuated as a precaution.

Around 20 aircraft were supporting more than 100 firefighters on land in the extinction effort.

On the front line of climate change, Spain remains exposed to wildfires even after the end of the summer months from June to August, which weather agency AEMET has said were the hottest since records began in 1961.

The highest temperature of the year of 45.7C was recorded on September 2 in the southwestern municipality of El Granado, also located in Andalusia.

According to the European Forest Fire Information System, wildfires have burned more than 296,000 hectares (731,000 acres) in Spain this year.