EU sends aeroplanes to help Portugal battle Madeira wildfires

BRUSSELS: The European Commission on Thursday announced that it was sending two firefighting aeroplanes to help Portugal battle wildfires on the island of Madeira, dpa reported. At a press conference in Brussels on Thursday, a commission spokesman said two planes from the European Union's strategic reserve were already on the way from Spain to Madeira and were expected to arrive later in the day. The support falls under the EU's Civil Protection Mechanism, which responds to such disasters. Portugal asked the commission for assistance under the mechanism late on Wednesday, the spokesman said.The commission is also providing Portuguese authorities with satellite images from the EU's Copernicus Earth observation programme, he added.The self-governing Portuguese territory of Madeira lies in the Atlantic Ocean, about 1,000 kilometres south-west of mainland Portugal and roughly 500 kilometres west of the Moroccan coast. Source: Emirates News Agency