Wildfires in South Korea have resulted in deaths, turned an ancient Buddhist temple into ashes and forced the evacuation of residents of a UNESCO World Heritage site.

One monk said his old temple was ‘reduced to heaps of ashes,’ as the fires continue to rage across the country

The wildfires in South Korea, which started on 21 March and have killed at least 26 people, have since spread to cover more than 36,000 hectares - larger than recent wildfires that have similarly made headlines and sent panic rippling through local communities.