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Two firefighting helicopters collided in Greece while helping to control a huge wildfire Sunday that has destroyed more than 100 homes northwest ‌of Athens, while a fresh blaze forced evacuations on the popular tourist island of Kefalonia. Europe has been ravaged by wildfires ​this summer after a period of record-breaking heatwaves ‌and little rain — conditions that scientists say have been exacerbated by climate change. Destructive blazes in France and Spain ‌showed signs of easing over the ⁠weekend, but several wildfires have ‌broken out in Greece after a period of relative calm there. Two ‌helicopters collided during a firefighting operation in the area of Psatha in the Attica region, west of Athens, Greece's fire service said in a ⁠statement. Footage posted on the Forecast Weather Greece Facebook page appeared to show two helicopters closing to cross paths at low altitude, before the main rotor of the lower helicopter struck the underside of the one flying above it and crashed in flames. The second helicopter then dumped its load of water and flew away. Reuters has not verified the authenticity of the footage. The crew of one helicopter had been located and were safe, with ambulances on the way to pick them up, government officials said. As for the second crew, the helicopter had been located, and a search-and-rescue operation was underway, officials said. 'FORCE OF NATURE'Gale-force winds that had fuelled a fire around ​Porto Germeno on the Gulf of Corinth 60km (40 miles) northwest of Athens subsided, but flames crossed a mountain to the south and reached the settlement of Veniza and a military firing range, igniting unexploded ordnance. Firefighters focused their efforts on preventing fire from advancing towards the coastal town of Megara, which has a population ‌of around 30,000. "There are moments when the force ⁠of nature and the intensity of ​weather conditions exceed all human planning and every operational capability,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in his regular Sunday ​message. Greek authorities issued emergency alerts for evacuations for a number of settlements in western Attica, including an industrial estate near Megara. In the village of Agios Konstantinos, residents were doing their best to halt the spread of the blaze. "The fire has been burning since last night, it is certain that they cannot have forces everywhere. We as residents are doing everything we can,” said Tasos Tzempelikos, 61, who along with his son was pouring water on the fire. Greek daily Protothema reported that a major effort was under way to prevent the fire from Veniza from reaching the nearby coastal town of Megara. It said more than 10,000 hectares of land had likely been destroyed by the fire so far. Overnight, several settlements on the Ionian island of Kefalonia were evacuated after a fire broke out in the Pastra area in the south. FIRES IN FRANCE AND SPAIN MOSTLY UNDER CONTROLIn France, wildfires in the Gironde and Var departments showed signs ‌of easing. Authorities reported only minor flare-ups in the ‌southwestern Gironde area and said the blaze in the southeastern ⁠Var department had not spread overnight. In Monfort-Sur-Argents, in the region of Var, Georges Blanc, who fled from the fire, returned home and was ⁠busy putting out hot embers to prevent a flare-up, while firefighters ⁠watered the wider area. "With the combined efforts of the two Canadairs (firefighting planes) and the firefighters, I think you could say all the houses were saved ... And now, well, I'm coming back to check, because since I saw the flames, I thought the houses wouldn't have survived," he told Reuters. In central Spain, wildfires that ripped through tens of thousands of hectares over the past week were mostly under control, though firefighters were dealing with reignitions in some areas. In the western province of Caceres, a forest blaze erupted on Saturday, prompting the evacuation of around 800 people. Those residents were allowed to ​return Sunday but remained confined to their homes as the fire was still active. HUNGARY NUCLEAR PLANT FORCED TO SHUTOther European countries are struggling with drought and receding water levels in major rivers, including the Rhine and the Danube, which recorded its lowest-ever water levels in Hungary, Serbia and Romania. Hungary faces a critical five days, Prime Minister Peter Magyar said Sunday, as the drying out of the Danube forced the country's sole nuclear power plant to shut for the first time in more than four decades, with a new heatwave looming. Falls in water levels amid a lack of rain have also disrupted shipping and tourism in Hungary and triggered water-use restrictions in more than 100 cities and villages. Danube levels in Serbia fell to their lowest since 1985, cutting the daily output of the country's biggest hydropower plant to only 20%, the ‌energy minister said Sunday.

At least 39 people died in southern Spain after ‌a high-speed train derailed and collided with an oncoming one on Sunday night in one of the worst railway accidents in Europe ‌in the past 80 years.  Twelve were in ‍intensive care after the accident near Adamuz in the province of Cordoba, about 360km south of Madrid, according to emergency services. Experts studying the crash site say a faulty rail joint may be key to determining the cause of the crash. “The train tipped to one side... then everything went dark, and all I heard was screams,” said Ana Garcia Aranda, 26, who was travelling back to Madrid ‍and was being treated at a Red Cross centre in Adamuz.  Limping and wrapped in a blanket, her face covered with plasters, she described how fellow passengers dragged her out of the train covered in blood. Firefighters rescued her pregnant sister from the wreckage and an ambulance took them both to hospital. “There were people who were fine and others who were very, very badly injured.  You had them right in front of you and you knew they were going to die, and you couldn’t do anything,” she said. The collision occurred in a hilly, olive-growing region which could only be accessed by a single-track road, making it difficult for ambulances to enter and exit, Iñigo Vila, national emergency director at the Spanish ‌Red Cross, said.  Emergency teams were struggling to bring in heavy machinery that could lift the wreckage to get access to more of the dead, the Andalusia region’s President Juan Manuel Moreno said. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez cancelled his trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and Transport Minister Oscar Puente visited the crash ‍site Tuesday.  Police drone footage showed how the trains came to a standstill 500 ‌metres apart. One train’s carriage was split in two, and the locomotive was crushed like a tin can. Experts studying the crash site found a broken joint on the rails, which created a gap between the rail sections that widened as trains continued to travel on the track, according to a source briefed on initial investigations into the disaster.

Eleven people were killed and two others injured in the early hours of Thursday, after a test train collided with maintenance workers on the track in Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province.The accident happened at the Luoyangzhen station in Kunming, according to the China's News Agency (Xinhua).The cause of the accident is under investigation, and the railway station has so far resumed operations.

At least 24 people were killed, and 18 others injured when a passenger bus collided with a truck in the southern Indian state of Telangana. Indian police said the accident occurred as the bus, carrying about 70 passengers, was traveling to Hyderabad, the state capital.Reports indicate that the truck, which was transporting gravel, collided with the bus at high force, trapping several passengers inside. Initial investigations suggest that excessive speed and loss of control by the truck driver were the likely causes of the accident.Police said the dead included the drivers of the bus and the truck, as well as a 10-month-old baby and its mother. Authorities have launched an investigation into the accident.Traffic accidents are common in India as a result of overloading, poor infrastructure and reckless driving.

Three people were killed, and 16 others were injured when a minibus carrying farmworkers collided with a truck in Mersin Province, southern Turkey. According to Anadolu Agency, the minibus rammed into the rear of a trailer on the Ankara-Tarsus highway, killing three passengers. Medical teams transported 16 injured people to hospital for treatment. In May, 12 people were injured in a similar crash involving a workers' bus and a car in Kahramanmaras Province, also in southern Turkey.

At least 10 people were killed and 41 others were injured when a train collided with a bus at a rail crossing in the State of Mexico, according to authorities. Civil Protection General Coordinator Adrian Hernandez confirmed the casualty toll, noting that four of the injured remain in critical condition. Security footage showed the double-decker bus slowly moving across the train tracks. The train then suddenly appeared, ramming the bus at its midpoint and splitting the vehicle in two. The bus driver was arrested at the request of the local public prosecutor's office.