A 51 year old man has been detained on Ibiza in connection with a fire that has so far destroyed hundreds of hectares of land in the Serra de la Morna area of the island.
The man, an Argentine national living on the island, was working with bees and using smoke to approach the hive when, apparently due to an oversight, he accidentally started the fire. The use of smoke is the normal method employed by beekeepers to control the bees and access the hive to get at the honeycomb.
The Government of the Balearics activated Level 2 of the Special Plan for Forest Fires (Infobal), not due to any risk posed to nearby houses but due to the sheer magnitude of the blaze.