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ATHENS, Greece – Two major forest fires devastated either side of the Greek capital on Monday, burning houses, causing residents to flee and spinning the sky over Athens. an orange smoke. At least seven people were killed in a small fire – ravaged coastal town in the east of Athens, according to Reuters
A witness told Reuters that the victims were fleeing by car or on foot when the flames approached. At least four charred bodies were seen on a road in the community of Mati, about 18 miles east of Athens. This area was devastated by the rapid fire that began around 5 pm.
Reuters says that one victim was in a car, another under a vehicle. Two people died on a motorcycle in what appeared to be a traffic jam towards a safer area on a nearby beach. The authorities expect the death toll to increase significantly.
The regional authorities have declared the state of emergency in the west and east of Attica, the greater Athens area, while the boats Coast Guard escape.
Several other fires broke out across the country, including in northeastern Greece and the southern island of Crete, extending Greece's firefighting capabilities. Gale force winds, which frequently changed direction, hampered fire-fighting efforts as temperatures reached 100 degrees F.
Fire Department spokeswoman Stavroula Malliri said Greece had requested Help from the European Union. BBC News reports that countries like Italy, Germany, Poland and France have sent planes, vehicles and firefighters.
According to health authorities, at least 25 other people were hospitalized with injuries, mainly for burns. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras cut short a visit to Bosnia on Monday and returned to Athens to chair an emergency meeting with fire chiefs and government officials
. all that is humanly possible to pick up and fight those fires, "Tsipras said before returning to Athens. "What worries us is that there are simultaneous fires."
A fireman wears a flame-resistant uniform while a firefighter Forest fire burns in the city of Rafina, near Athens, Greece. 23, 2018.
Reuters
The first major fire broke out in a pine forest near the seaside settlement of Kineta, 50 kilometers west of Athens, between the capital and Corinth. At least 220 firefighters were on scene while five jettisonable aircraft and seven helicopters were helping to fight the fire. Reinforcements were sent from all over Greece
The second broke out Monday afternoon in the Penteli and Rafina regions northeast of Athens. Local authorities said the summer camps for children and a seaside resort for military officers were evacuated, while dozens of homes and cars were reportedly destroyed. At least three planes and a helicopter fought the flames, with more than 60 firefighters.
There was no official figure on the total number of evacuees. The Coast Guard sent five ships to rescue people stranded on the nearby beaches by the flames. They said the initial reports indicated that about 80-85 people needed to be evacuated by sea.
Separately, the Coast Guard said they had rescued two people who were part of one. group of 10, who would be Danish tourists who had fled the fire. boat type then disappeared. The pair was pulled from the healthy sea about 3 nautical miles (5.5 kilometers, 3.4 miles) east of Rafina. The Coast Guard said that there were conflicting reports of whether the other eight were picked up by a passing boat.
The fire was burning in the town of Rafina, turning the sky over the nearby port serving the Cyclades Islands. smoke. The road to the nearby town of Marathon has been closed to traffic.
The mayor of Rafina, Vangelis Bournous, said that he thought that about a hundred houses in the area had been burned down. In the first fire, west of the capital near Kineta, three communities were evacuated and the fire closed a section of nearly 20 kilometers on two highways connecting the Peloponnese with central Greece. The thick smoke reduces the visibility on the highway to a few meters.
Several houses were in flames, images of the Greek TV channel Skai. Some residents used watering pipes to try to save their properties, while others fled into cars and mopeds
Hours after the start of the fire, some people Ashes particles swirled over the center of Athens
Reuters
The authorities sent to Kineta 17 other fire-fighting vehicles as well as 45 firemen from elsewhere in Greece, as well as a team of 30 firefighters from the city of Thessaloniki, in the north of the country. Other towns and villages sent tankers and volunteer firefighters.
It was unclear how the fire had started in the Geraneia Mountains near Kineta. Forest fires are common in Greece during hot, dry summers and the country has recently faced high temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).
Firefighters also said that a third fire was burning farmland and woodlands. the south island of Crete. Two helicopters dropped water to help dozens of firefighters
In northern Greece, another forest fire in the Soufli area was attacked by 50 other firefighters, while firefighters said three other fires had broken out. The biggest fire season is by far 2007, when large areas of forest and farmland burned, mainly in the Peloponnese, southern Greece, killing more than 60 people.
