Greece a “Biblical disaster with human losses”
Greece — Devastating wildfires have swept through the suburbs of Athens, resulting in at least 74 deaths and an unknown number of injured.
Twenty-six of the dead were found huddled together in a compound, while a few bodies were recovered from the sea where they had fled to escape the flames and smoke.
Thousands have fled the fires, with at least 700 being rescued from the sea after jumping in there to escape the flames. Hundreds of homes have been destroyed. The fires are a “biblical disaster with human losses,” Greek Interior Minister Panos Skourletis has said.
Greece endures wildfires every summer but the fires that broke out Monday were the deadliest to hit the country since 2007. Fueled by gale-force winds, they trapped hundreds of people on beaches, roads and in homes.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras declared three days of national mourning. There were fears the death toll could rise even further, as there was no definitive count of how many people were missing.
Hundreds of firefighters aided by water-dropping aircraft were tackling the remaining areas in the two main blazes near the capital. The northeast of Athens near Rafina, where most of the casualties appeared to have occurred, while the other was about 30 miles west of Athens, where some flare-ups were reported Tuesday afternoon.
Four other fires were burning in other parts of the country, including near Corinth and on the island of Crete.
Coast guard boats patrolled the shores near fire-hit areas Tuesday after more than 700 people trapped by quick-moving fires had to be rescued from beaches or the sea, where six of the dead were found. Defense Minister Panos Kammenos said 88 people had been picked up from the sea by a military vessel.
Twenty-six of the dead were found at first light Tuesday huddled together in one compound near the sea in the community of Mati, near the port of Rafina. Red Cross rescuers who found them said they appeared to be families or groups of friends, as they were found hugging in groups of threes and fours.
With the flames whipped up by shifting gale-force winds, many tourists and residents fled toward the coastline. Some swam out to sea, braving rough water and strong currents to escape the ferocious flames and choking smoke. The speed of the fire’s advance took many by surprise.
“It happened very fast. The fire was in the distance, then sparks from the fire reached us. Then the fire was all around us,” resident Nikos Stavrinidis, who had gone with his wife to fix up his summer home for a visit by his daughter, told the Associated Press.
