Tourists evacuated from Croatian island

Croatia's rescue services said they had evacuated Friday some 230 people, most of them tourists, from parts of the holiday island of Brac, threatened by a forest fire. Some 200 tourists vacationing in Lucica village and 30 inhabitants of nearby Bobovisca were evacuated to other towns on the island at their own request, the rescue services said in a statement. Rescuers using fire-fighting planes and helicopters were still trying to put down the blaze that had broken out on Thursday in a bay on island's southwestern side. The fire has so far ravaged more than 2,500 hectares (6,175 acres) of pine forest and plants. The island of Brac is one of the most popular holiday destinations on Croatia's Adriatic coast.