A British father and his daughter fled the wildfires raging in France by escaping on a boat in a “mini-Dunkirk” as flames threatened to cut off a popular tourist area.
Ben Sturnham, 50, and his eight-year-old daughter Allegra were on a week-long holiday at the Cap Ferret peninsula, 40 miles west of Bordeaux, when blazes ripped through the surrounding area.
As the flames grew nearer, ash rained down on the luxury destination with French authorities giving the order for a total evacuation of the area on the Atlantic coast.
On Friday morning, they managed to board a last-minute private taxi boat across the bay after fire left smoke billowing “like a mushroom cloud” , said Mr Sturnham, who lives in London and Bristol.
Nearly 200,000 people have been forced to flee homes and holiday accommodation in south-west France as wildfires rip through the region.
