One dead as wildfires rage near tourist areas in Spain

Coin, Spain: One person died and 4,000 others were forced to evacuate their homes as a wildfire fanned by strong winds devoured hillsides near the Spanish resort city of Marbella on Friday.

A regional Interior Ministry official said the latest fire started outside the mountainside town of Coin, northeast of Marbella, and that authorities suspect arson as the cause.

All residents of the nearby town of Ojen were forced to evacuate as flames swept through their valley.

Most spent much of the night sheltered in sports centres in Marbella.

The regional government of Andalucia said an elderly man's charred body was found on Friday "in a tool shed" near Ojen.

Jose Antonio Grinan, the regional president, said two people were being treated for burns and bruises.

A dry winter followed by a scorching hot summer has left much of southern Spain tinder-dry and susceptible to fires.

The country has seen 1,500 square kilometres (580 square miles) of land burned in nearly 12,000 wildfires so far this year.

Other European nations, including Greece, Portugal and Bosnia, also have faced blazes spawned by similar conditions.