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Firefighters attempt to extinguish a forest fire near the village of Kineta , on the outskirts of Athens, July 24, 2018 / AFP
Authorities and inhabitants of the resorts of Mati and Rafina, east of Athens, ravaged by deadly fires, feared Tuesday evening that the official record More than 74 dead and 187 wounded, firefighters looking for people stranded in charred houses or cars
The disaster described as "national tragedy" by many media in the country took place Monday afternoon: fire broke out on Mount Pendeli, fanned by winds of 100 km / h, quickly spread and invaded Mati, 40 km from Athens, burning hundreds of homes and killing 74 people, according to the authorities.
Residents fled in panic one of the near beach where many of them had to stay more than an hour in the water to save themselves.
Fires in the Athens area / AFP
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 yourself, "said a rescuer, Vassilis Andriopoulos.
– 'I fear there are more casualties' –
"I saw the flames in front of the hotel window, I thought it was going to explode," said Alina Marzin, 20 years old, a tourist from Wuppertal (Germany) who was in the hotel Capo Verde in Mati Monday night with his parents and his 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, have been investigating possible victims in this part of Attica flooded with fire all Tuesday.
A water bomber helicopters water a forest fire near the village of Kineta, a suburb of Athens , July 24, 2018 / AFP
Firefighters have received "dozens of calls" from people searching for relatives, according to spokesman Stavroula Maliri.
Hundreds of engineers from the Ministry of Transportation and the region began to record the damage.
"I fear there are other victims and missing, especially the elderly," said a Rafina councilor, Myron Tsagarakis, at the AFP.
Tuesday evening, the government did not publish the number of missing persons.
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 state serious "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 as well as a Polish woman and her son, according to Warsaw.
– Flags at half mast –
The survivors passed 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. The flags will be at half-mast until Friday.
The presidency has 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 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.
Photo of July 24, 2018 showing cars burned at Mati near Athens / AFP
Town planted with pines, Mati was the most affected because of "a blazing fire in the urban fabric," said Ms. Maliri.
"Mati no longer exists," said the mayor of Rafina, Evangelos Bournous, listing "more thousand buildings and 300 cars "damaged.
Tuesday night, in the area of Mati, "the fire evolved without active front, with scattered homes", according to firefighters. 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 as a precaution", according to a fire officials.
– Influx of help-
The country, which activated the European Civil Protection Mechanism, was offered aid – notably by air – by Spain, France, Israel, Bulgaria, Turkey, Italy, Macedonia, Portugal and Croatia, while messages of condolence were pouring in from foreign.
The deadliest forest fires in Europe / AFP
"The European Commission will not spare its efforts to help Greece" tweeted President Jean- Claude Juncker. "The pain of the victims affects us all," said German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a telegram to Mr. Tsipras.
The Pope announced "his deep sadness", while the Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg shared the "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 face an "extreme", "asymmetrical" phenomenon according to Mr. Tsipras.
Dimitris Tzanakopoulos noted that there had been "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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