WORLD IN BRIEF : SPAIN : Fires Kill 19; Plane Crew Among Victims

Emergency workers battled to smother wildfires that have killed 19 people this week, including five crew members of a plane that crashed while trying to douse the flames. Firefighters, soldiers, police and volunteers struggled to control blazes that have threatened at least 325,000 acres along the Mediterranean coast. The emergency drew assistance from neighboring France and Portugal, a gesture that ended in disaster when a Russian-made Antonov fire plane sent by Portugal crashed near Alicante on Wednesday, killing four Ukrainians and one Portuguese. One Ukrainian survived with serious injuries. By midday, 17 fires were still burning in the regions of Catalonia, Valencia, Murcia and Andalusia.