Fierce fires threaten Cristiano Ronaldo's sports complex
Three people died over night as fires ravaged through the Real Madrid star's hometown of Funchal in Madeira.
Three people were killed, two seriously hurt and around a thousand forced to flee overnight as fires ravaged the Portuguese holiday island of Madeira, reaching the capital Funchal, rescuers said Wednesday.
The sports complex of local hero Cristiano Ronaldo, who comes from Funchal, was also under threat if being engulfed by the fierce flames, with both a natural grass pitch and artificial surface in danger of damage.
See also: Cristiano's Pestana CR7 hotel in Funchal
A hotel overlooking the town was destroyed and other buildings were licked by flames, officials said. "Last night, the fire was a hundred metres (yards) away from the hotel and you could hear gas bottles exploding," Ricardo Correia, a manager at the hotel Castanheiro, told AFP.
"We evacuated our 140 guests as a precaution," Correia said, explaining they had spent the night in a sports stadium on the western side of the town. The situation was calmer this morning and the clients are progressively returning."
Situation now "under control"
The president of the Madeira region, Miguel Albuquerque, said the fire was still burning on several fronts but was "under control." "The situation is complex but not catastrophic," he told a press conference.
Fires began in the hills around Funchal on Monday night but 24 hours later worsened dramatically, fanned by strong winds. A vast ball of smoke was seen above Funchal on Tuesday with the evening sky turned orange by the flames, prompting locals to photograph the scene from surrounding hills.
Overnight, Portugal dispatched a team of 110 specialists including firefighters, police and doctors to help bolster the island's response to the blaze while the Azores, another Portuguese territory in the Atlantic ocean, deployed 30 men to assist.
"The Pearl of the Atlantic"
Dubbed "the Pearl of the Atlantic," Madeira is an autonomous region of Portugal with a population of about a quarter of a million.
The archipelago of four volcanic islands is located around 500 kilometres (300 miles) off northwest Africa in warm sub-tropical waters that have made it a popular tourist and cruiseship destination.
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