Three injured in wildfire on Spain's Costa del Sol

A wildfire raging near luxury homes outside Spain's famed Costa del Sol beach resorts left three people injured on Sunday, with one victim in hospital with burns, officials 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.

Three people suffered injuries, including "a transfer of one person to the regional hospital with burns", said Andalusia's top emergencies official, Antonio Sanz, who however expected a "favourable evolution".

The emergency services had said on X that one victim was burned while trying to put out the flames.

A firefighter suffered a broken wrist, while the third person was treated for minor smoke inhalation, Sanz told reporters.

Authorities ordered the approximately 9,500 residents of Benahavis, a picturesque village characterised by white homes and narrow streets, and surrounding villas to stay indoors via a telephone alert sent in English as well as Spanish.

About 50 residents were evacuated from a nearby housing development, but no properties had been affected, Sanz said.

Around 20 aircraft were supporting more than 200 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 June-August summer period, which weather agency AEMET has said was 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.