Greece wildfires: Farmers risk safety to rescue livestock

Livestock owners rallied to rescue their sheep and horses from raging wildfires in Greece .

In the island of Chios, a man was filmed trying to calm at least two frightened horses as smoke and flames engulfed groves of olive trees, while in Patras, western Greece , sheep were scooped up in the arms of moped drivers to remove them from the thick, black smoke.

Wildfires have devastated vast swathes of southern Europe in the past few days, from Portugal in the west to the Balkans in the east.

In Greece, around 150 new fires have broken out in the past couple of days. Chios, in the northern Aegean close to the coast of Turkey, was one of the areas hardest hit.

Nearly 5,000 firefighters have been deployed to tackle the blazes. Two planes and six helicopters were also sent to the area.