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Buildings are burning in the city of Mati, east of Athens, Monday, July 23, 2018. Regional authorities have declared the state of emergency in the eastern and western parts from the Athens area. through the pine forests and seaside resorts on either side of the Greek capital. (AP Photo / Thanassis Stavrakis)
RAFINA, Greece – Forest fires have ravaged houses, cars and forests and killed at least 49 people, local authorities said on Tuesday. reported finding the bodies of more than 20 people huddled together near a beach.
Many people headed to the beaches and coastline to escape, fleeing the flames and choking the smoke. More than 700 people were evacuated by sea all night, said Deputy Minister of the Merchant Navy Nektarios Santorinios, whose ministry is responsible for the Coast Guard.
Nikos Oikonomopoulos, head of the Greek Red Cross The Red Cross rescue team had told him that the crew who was looking for a seaside area northeast of Athens had found 26 bodies, apparently families, tight against each other, many of whom hugged each other
Tuesday, July 24, 2018, burnt cars are seen outside of a damaged house in Rafina, at the Is from Athens. Forest fires raged in holiday resorts near the Greek capital, killing at least 24 people. early Tuesday and wounding more than 100, including 11 in serious condition, in the country's deadliest fire season in more than a decade. (AP Photo / Thanassis Stavrakis)
"Everything happened in a few seconds," said local resident Andreaas Passios, who lives next to the speaker. "I grabbed a beach towel, it saved my life, I soaked it, grabbed my wife and ran to the sea."
Passios said that he and his wife stayed near the sea for two hours. "It was incredible, gas bombs were exploding, pine cones were burning everywhere
Spyros Hadjiandreou arrived on the spot to look for missing relatives.
" My niece and my cousin stayed here on vacation. I do not know if they took it out, "he said. "I do not know how good they are, I have not heard about it."
The fires – an estimated 50 kilometers west of Athens to Kineta, the other northeast of the capital near Rafina – broke out on Monday for yet undetermined causes. Attracted by gale force winds, they quickly spread to populated areas of popular beach areas, preventing large numbers of people in their cars or homes from fleeing, said Stavroula Malliri, spokesman for the service. Fire
. Aleksandra Papariga, former leader of the Greek Communist Party, said: "The police tried to move us away from the fire, but we could not escape it," she said. "We were stuck in traffic and the flames were on us."
Greece solicited international aid from the European Union, as fires on either side of Athens destroyed burnt cars, charred farms and forests, the beaches must be evacuated by naval vessels, yachts and fishing boats.The Coast Guard said that 19 people were found at sea and rescued, while 696 had was picked up by boat on the beaches and coastline.
Spain sent two firefighters while Cyprus sent 60 firefighters to fight the flames, and Israel and Turkey also offered their help in any way possible.
The fire department reported that 156 adults and 16 children had been hospitalized with injuries Eleven of the adults were in serious condition
Winds reached 80 km / h (50 mi / h) as the authorities deployed the entire fleet of seaplanes and helicopters in the country to allow vacationers to escape. Military drones remained in the air in strong winds to help the authorities control more than 600 ground firefighters
"We were unlucky.The wind changed and it came to us with such force that it has razed the coastal area in minutes, "said Evangelos Bournous, mayor of the port city of Rafina, a sleepy port on the mainland that serves the Greek holiday islands. a makeshift hospital while paramedics watched over the survivors, some of them dressed only in their swimsuits, when they left the Coast Guard ships and private boats. The operation continued all night
It was the most deadly fire season to hit Greece in more than a decade. More than 60 people were killed in 2007 when huge fires swept the southern Peloponnese
"It's a tough night for Greece," said Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras after a brief trip to Bosnia. The showers that passed over the Greek capital on Monday missed both big fires. Heavy rains are expected Wednesday in southern Greece
Forest fires are common in Greece during hot and dry summers, and temperatures have recently reached high levels up to 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Celsius). F). / muf
