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Firefighters in Greece raised to 91 the number of victims of a fire that ravaged a coastal region east of Athens and reported that 25 people were still missing Sunday, six days after the deadliest forest fire in Europe. Before the National Fire Service updated the official number of casualties, it rose to 86, while hundreds of people attended a memorial service Sunday morning for the victims of the seaside village hardest hit by the flames
. Mati village, popular holiday resort, without warning on July 23rd. A database maintained by the Center for Research on Disaster Epidemiology in Brussels shows it as the deadliest in Europe since 1900.
The vast majority of dead people died in the fire itself, although a number drowned in the sea while fleeing the flames. Until Sunday evening, the Greek authorities had not provided a count of missing persons.
Stavroula Malliri, spokesman for the Hellenic Fire Service, provided a breakdown that illustrated why the death toll continued to rise and the list of missing persons
Malliri said that on Sunday night, 59 victims had been identified from bodies or remains and another four injured people in the fire died in hospitals in the region. But identities have not yet been linked to 28 other remains, she said.
Relatives or friends reported that 25 people were officially missing, said Malliri. people could be among the still unidentified remains of the dead. The official asked anonymity because the fire is still under investigation.
Bishop Kyrillos, a senior official of the local Greek Orthodox Church, said the community mourned the simultaneous loss of his family, neighbors and friends. 19659012] Hundreds of faithful attended a memorial service in Mati for the dozens who died in a fire that devastated the resort. (Yorgos Karahalis / Associated Press)
"We are less numerous now than usual," he said. "It's the victims of the recent fire that we miss – friends, relatives and acquaintances, people on the other side that we see every day in the city and on the beach."
Local resident Angeliki Galiatsatou said that she fire that killed others in their cars and their homes.
"I came to pray for people who were lost and I pray God bless us all," she said.
Dozens of volunteer divers, some retired Seals continued to search the sea on Sunday for the bodies of the most likely victims.
The Greek authorities claimed to have reason to believe that the fire was lethal due to winds of up to 100 km / h. More than 80 dead, hundreds displaced after fire burns for days 1:03
