French villagers evacuated as wildfire rages in Pyrenees

PARIS (Reuters) -Around 80 villagers were evacuated as a wildfire raged in the mountains of southwestern France on Thursday, authorities said.

The fire broke out mid afternoon and spread across 400 hectares of ground in the Pyrenees-Orientales department, the local prefect's office said.

There were no immediate reports of damage to property, or of injuries among the people evacuated from the village of Castelnou, which is about 30 km (18 miles) southwest of the town of Perpignan.

A total of 300 firefighters, nine airplanes and three helicopters have been deployed, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said in a post on X.

(Reporting by Makini Brice; Editing by Tassilo Hummel and Andrew Heavens)