Greek Survivors of Fire: "All we have seen is tragedy and loss" | News from the world

Tuesday, the devastation was complete. Much of Mati, the seaside resort at the center of the worst forest fires in Greece for more than a decade, no longer existed.

In hell, she had become lifeless, her streets turned into ash carpets, her buildings blackened, her cars turned into steel carcbades, some piled on top of each other, testimony to the terror that fell on the community Monday afternoon. Gale force winds had fanned flames as high as walls that had engulfed the village.

And then there were the dead. Tuesday afternoon, an official record of 74 dead had been announced. With lifeguards going from door to door and from car to car finding bodies, there were certainly more.

What many hoped would be the best escape from the flames and the smoke – the sea – had become a road to death. Charred bodies were ripped from the water or found on the beaches.

Nikos Stavrinidis, one of more than 700 survivors rescued by a flotilla of coast guards, fishing boats and private boats, told how the winds had fanned the flames and shook the seas, disorienting those who had rushed into the ocean. when there was no other place to run.

"It's terrible to see the person next to you drowning and not being able to help," he says, describing how he and a group of friends spent two hours struggling to stay afloat. inhabited fishing boat.

Before the disaster struck, it was the sound of the wind – louder than a roaring and all-consuming – that had sounded the alarm. "It happened so fast, the fire was in the distance, then the sparks of fire reached us, so the fire was around us," he said. "The wind was indescribable, it was unbelievable."

While Alexis Tsipras, the Greek Prime Minister, declared three days of mourning, and the firefighting planes were flying overhead. his heads, unbelief weighed heavily in putrid air of Mati. The locals were sitting outside the buildings, many in shorts and ash-covered T-shirts, holding their heads in their hands or aimlessly looking away.

"Nobody really understood the reality, they are all in a state of shock," said Aris Bouranis, the community's president, stopping momentarily in his pickup truck on Poseidonos, the main street of Mati. "Dead, dead, there are deaths everywhere."

Early on Tuesday, the remains of 26 men, women, and children were found in open ground off Poseidonos, almost all locked up in a hug. Among them, mothers keep their children safe – a last act before the flames engulf them.

Retracing their steps, rescue workers believe that most are heading to the area because of its proximity to the sea. No access from the cliff to the beach below.

"It's an absolute disaster," sighs Tesse Pappa, one of the countless volunteers who rushed into the car to distribute medicine, water and food. "All we have seen, all day, is tragedy, sadness, disaster and loss."

Among those who thought they had defrauded death was Cleanthis Rorris, a retired naval captain. At 81, the former white-haired sailor lived in Mati for nearly half of his life. He had built a studio – "my kingdom" – in the garden of a two-story villa that he had since handed over to his children.

In a few hours, the property had been reduced to ashes, with the exception of the studio which remained intact. "When the flames started jumping across the street, I ran to my car so fast that my shoes fell," he remembers, standing outside the charred remains of Stefanou Street

. blood. Was not he mad at the nasty nature?

"I spent the day thinking about the elements, half of my life was spent at sea, the rest here on this piece of land, and now, with this terrible fire, I realize that I've closed the loop, "he said." I've lived them all and I'm lucky. I'm still there. I am still alive. "