Pupils from an Accrington school who were visiting Spain were treated for severe burns caused by the intense heat.

The school, which looked to reassure the local community, said ‘robust risk assessments’ had had been taken for the educational trip to the country, but four pupils needed medical treatment.

Pictures seen by the Lancashire Telegraph, showed pupils with severe burns to the shoulder and another heavily bandaged above the chest and shoulders.

The students, from Mount Carmel RC High School in Accrington, were visiting Malaga and suffered from sunburn and/or sunstroke according to the school.

They are believed to be from Year 7 and returned to the UK recently.

Temperatures across Europe have been hitting unprecedented levels during the recent heatwave, often in excess of 40 degrees Celsius.

In a statement, Xavier Bowers, headteacher of Mount Carmel RC High School, said: "We are aware that four of our pupils have needed medical treatment for sunburn and/ or sunstroke following a recent educational visit to Malaga in Spain.

"We are of course, actively supporting the pupils affected by this isolated incident as well as their families.

“We can confirm that the school trip was undertaken within the remit of a comprehensive and robust risk assessment in line with our safeguarding policies and rigorous national guidance.

"We would like to reassure all our pupils, their parents and carers and the wider community that we are undertaking a thorough review of the events with immediate effect, as the safeguarding and safety of all of our pupils is paramount and comes first and foremost at our school."

Several countries in southern Europe are sweating through a heatwave, which is expected to persist for days.

Spain’s Aemet weather agency said the heat this week “will affect a large part of the countries bordering the Mediterranean” with temperatures in some southern areas of Spain exceeding 42C (107F).

Scientists say there is a good chance 2023 will go down as the hottest year on record, with measurements going back to the middle of the 19th Century.

June saw the warmest global average temperature, according to Europe’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, and the UN’s World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) predicted that a number of heat records are set to fall this summer.