* Emergency workers in Spain battled to smother deadly wildfires that

have left 19 people dead, including five crew members of a fire plane

that crashed yesterday while trying to douse the flames.

Some 2500 firefighters, soldiers, police, and volunteers struggled to

control blazes that have reached at least 325,000 acres along the

Mediterranean coast, from Andalucia in the south to Catalonia in the

north-east.

In south-east France, fire-fighting aircraft joined teams on the

ground to fight fires in three areas near Marseille.--Reuter/AP.