Greece yesterday battled a massive wildfire near Athens for a third day, with hundreds of European firefighters due to join the effort to contain the deadly blaze that has scorched parts of the capital’s suburbs.
Fueled by strong winds, Greece’s worst wildfire this year raced across a parched landscape, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes as it wreaked widespread destruction around the Greek capital.
At least one person has died and at least 66 people have been treated for injuries. Two firefighters have also been hurt.
Photo: AFP
“We are at a better level across the front”, Costas Tsigkas, head of the association of Greek firefighter officers, told state television ERT early yesterday.
“But conditions again will not be easy. There will be winds from midday onwards” and “every hour that passes will be more difficult,” he said.
The Greek National Observatory said temperatures of up to 38°C were expected in Athens yesterday, with winds of up to 39kph.
About 700 firefighters, backed by 200 fire engines and nine aircraft, were battling the blaze that broke out on Sunday afternoon in the town of Varnavas, 35km northeast of Athens, the fire department said.
Fanned by strong winds, it grew to a 30km-long front line of flames more than 25m high in places, state TV ERT reported.
The observatory, itself threatened by the wildfire, on Monday said that at least 10,000 hectares had been devastated by the fire.
Following a call for international help by the Greek government, additional firefighters, helicopters, fire engines and water tankers were expected to join the effort from France, Italy, the Czech Republic, Romania, Serbia and Turkey, authorities said.
A woman’s body was found yesterday inside a burned-out Athens factory in what is believed to be the first death from the wildfire.
The Greek Ministry of Health said that 66 people have been treated for injuries related to the fire since Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Greek government came under attack from the media yesterday.
“Enough is enough,” thundered the front page of Greece’s top-selling daily Ta Nea, while the Kathimerini said that the “out of control” inferno “had left huge destruction [and] unanswered questions.”
“Evacuate Maximou,” said the Efsyn daily, referring to the building housing the prime minister’s office.
Despite a force of hundreds of firefighters, scores of fire engines and dozens of water bombers, on Monday the blaze scaled Mount Pentelikon, also known as Mount Pentelicus, that overlooks the capital and bore down on suburbs home to tens of thousands.
Dozens of evacuation orders were issued and many thousands fled as the fire destroyed homes, businesses and vehicles in the suburbs of Nea Penteli, Palaia Penteli, Patima Halandriou and Vrilissia.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who was vacationing on his home island of Hania, returned to the capital on Sunday.
He was shown visiting the Greek Ministry of Citizen Protection on Monday, but had yet to comment on the disaster.
The destruction revived memories of the July 2018 fires in Mati, a coastal area near Marathon where 104 people died in a tragedy later blamed on delays to evacuations and errors.
The summer wildfire season in Greece this year has seen dozens of daily blazes after the Mediterranean nation recorded its warmest winter and the hottest June and July since reliable data collection began in 1960.
Airlines in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore yesterday canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower into the sky. Australia’s Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier. Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India’s IndiGo and Singapore’s Scoot also listed flights as canceled. “Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said as it announced several cancelations. Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered
Former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said if US President Joe Biden had ended his re-election bid sooner, the Democratic Party could have held a competitive nominating process to choose his replacement. “Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said in an interview on Thursday published by the New York Times the next day. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” she said. Pelosi said she thought the Democratic candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, “would have done
Farmer Liu Bingyong used to make a tidy profit selling milk but is now leaking cash — hit by a dairy sector crisis that embodies several of China’s economic woes. Milk is not a traditional mainstay of Chinese diets, but the Chinese government has long pushed people to drink more, citing its health benefits. The country has expanded its dairy production capacity and imported vast numbers of cattle in recent years as Beijing pursues food self-sufficiency. However, chronically low consumption has left the market sloshing with unwanted milk — driving down prices and pushing farmers to the brink — while
RSS