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Athens – Authorities and inhabitants of the resorts of Mati and Rafina, east of Athens, ravaged by deadly fires, feared Tuesday evening that the official record of 74 dead and 187 wounded is heavier, firefighters looking for people trapped in charred houses or cars.
The disaster described as " national tragedy " by many media in the country took place on Monday afternoon: the fire broke out on the nearby Mount Pendeli fanned by winds of 100 km / h It quickly spread and invaded Mati, 40 km from Athens, burning hundreds of homes and killing 74 people, according to the authorities.
The residents fled in panic towards the nearby beach where several of them had to stay more than an hour in the water to escape.
The country was shocked by macabre discoveries on Tuesday, especially on the same plot of 26 charred people including " grandchildren ".
" They found themselves entwined in groups, in a " last attempt to protect themselves, "said a rescuer, Vbadilis Andriopoulos.
– 'I'm afraid there will be more casualties '-
" I saw the flames in front of the hotel window, I thought it was going to explode ", said Alina Marzin, 20, a tourist from Wuppertal (Germany ) who was at the Capo Verde hotel in Mati on Monday night with his parents and brother
They were evacuated a few hours later and transferred to the port of Rafina aboard harbor police patrol boats.
A hundred firefighters, helped by the police and dozens of volunteers continued the search for possible victims in this area of Attica flooded with fire during the whole of Tuesday.
Firefighters received " dozens of calls "from people looking for relatives, spokeswoman Stavroula Maliri.
Hundreds of engineers from the Ministry of Transportation and the region have begun to record the damage.
" I am afraid that there are other victims and missing, especially the elderly ", told AFP, a councilor of Rafina, Myron Tsagarakis.
Tuesday night, the government did not publish the number of missing.
These fires in Greece could thus exceed in victims those who killed 77 people in 2007.
Of a total of 187 people hospitalized, 82 remained treated Tuesday night including 10 " in serious condition " and 11 children whose condition did not inspire worry.
A Belgian was among the victims, according to Didier Reynders, the Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs and a Polish woman and her son, according to Warsaw.
– Flags at half-mast –
The survivors spent hours of anguish in a cloud of ashes at the edge or in the water, waiting for help. At least six have drowned.
Some 715 people were evacuated by military or private boats to the port of Rafina.
" Today Greece is in mourning ," said Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, announcing, in a televised address to the nation, three days of national mourning. Flags will be half mast until Friday.
The presidency canceled the festivities to commemorate Tuesday the return of democracy in Greece in July 1974. The Ministry of Finance has released 20 million euros " to meet the imminent needs of town halls and citizens affected ".
The government spokesman also announced exemptions from the property tax for 2018 for affected citizens and families as well as compensation.
A pine town, Mati was the hardest hit because of " a blazing fire in the urban fabric ," said Maliri.
" Mati no longer exists ," said Rafina Mayor Evangélos Bournous, reporting " more than a thousand buildings and 300 cars " damaged.
Tuesday evening, in the sector of Mati, " the fire evolved without active front, with dispersed hearths ", according to the firemen. But another front resumed above Kineta, west of Attica, where there was damage on Monday but no casualties. Three new localities in Kineta " were evacuated by precaution ", according to a fire officials.
– Influx of Aid-
The country, which activated the European Civil Protection Mechanism, was offered badistance – notably by air badets – by Spain, France, Israel, Bulgaria, Turkey, Italy, Macedonia, Portugal and Croatia, while messages of condolence were pouring in from abroad.
" The European Commission will not spare its efforts to help Greece " tweeted President Jean-Claude Juncker. " The pain of the victims touched us all ," said German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a telegram to Mr. Tsipras.
The pope made known " his deep sadness ", while NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg expressed " solidarity " of the Alliance.
The government announced that it would take over the funeral, and tax measures for the victims. And the prosecution has opened an investigation into the causes of the fires.
Before a controversy broke out over the response of the state apparatus, the government stressed that it had to deal with a phenomenon " extreme ", " asymmetrical "according to Mr. Tsipras.
Dimitris Tzanakopoulos noted that there were " 15 simultaneous fire starts on three different fronts " in Attica.
The United States lent a drone to fly over Attica and " observe and detect any suspicious activity ," he added.
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