Satellite images revealed the scope of destruction in the south of France where an area larger than the country's capital Paris has been turned into ashes by a massive wildfire.

Wildfires in south-western France are the worst in 75 years, according to experts, with the prime minister lamenting a “disaster on an unprecedented scale”.

Prime Minister François Bayrou described the nearly 40,000-acre fire, which has killed one person, as a “catastrophe on an unprecedented scale.”