Situation critical in Greece as residents flee wildfires by jumping into the sea - At least 50 dead - UPDATES

RT
Tue, 24 Jul 2018 11:26 UTC

© REUTERS/Costas Baltas

A woman is in shock as she walks through cars where people fleeing the wildfires were burned alive at the village of Mati, near Athens, Greece July 24, 2018.

Multiple wildfires across Greece's Attica region have claimed the lives of at least 49 people, firefighters say. With dozens of others injured, authorities have warned of further casualties and pleaded for an EU-wide response.

Around half of the victims are from the village of Mati, a holiday resort on the east coast of the Attica region, just 30km from Athens, the local fire brigade said. Local media also report that some 168 people were injured across the country.

"Some settlements have disappeared from the map," Mayor of Rafina Pikermiou, Vangelis Bournos told local newspapers.

Reporting that at least 15 wildfires are simultaneously raging across three fronts of the Attic peninsula, which includes the capital Athens, government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos warned of a "very difficult night" ahead given the combination of intense western winds. He noted that at least 16 children are among those affected by the flames.

After the first blaze broke out in a forest near the coastal settlement of Kineta, some 55 kilometers west of the capital, firefighters are yet to contain the wildfires across the peninsula. More than 300 firefighters, seven aircraft, and 10 helicopters are now mobilized to tackle the extremely difficult situation, Tzanakopoulos noted. Private boat operators are also helping the Coast Guard with the rescue.

According to Greek media reports, firefighters are constantly finding charred bodies. The number of missing persons is on the rise, including foreign tourists who tried to flee the flames by boats. Over 100 houses and hundreds of cars have been damaged by the fire.

© Xinhua/REX

Damaged beach facilities at Kineta near Athens

© Alkis Konstantinidis/Reuters

A wildfire rages in the town of Rafina

© Valerie Gache/AFP/Getty Images

A house is threatened by a huge blaze in Kineta. Strong winds have fuelled the fires

© Valerie Gache/AFP/Getty Images

Cars are blocked at the closed National Road near Kineta.

Faced with the spread of the wildfires, Regional Governor Rena Dourou has declared a state of emergency for the Attica region earlier on Monday, ordering communities affected by the wildfires to be evacuated. Greece has also asked for international assistance to cope with the fires near the capital. Italy, Germany, Poland and France have already offered to help battle the blaze.

"Situation in Attica has gotten out of control," Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told reporters early on Tuesday. "We need to do everything we can because there are people in danger."

Comment: With 50 dead on just the first day, this tragedy is likely to surpass the 2007 wildfires, which were (at the time) 'unprecedented'...

Update 15:00 CET

As the fires continue to rage, the death toll has climbed to 60, while Croatia, Turkey, Italy, Germany, and Russia have offered to send much-needed help.

The accounts of the survivors are haunting and heartbreaking:

Nikos Stavrinidis had gone to his summer home in the Mati area with his wife to prepare it for his student daughter, who was coming to stay.

Before he knew it, the fire surrounded him.

"It happened very fast. The fire was in the distance, then sparks from the fire reached us. Then the fire was all around us," Mr Stavrinidis said.

There were six people in his group: Mr Stavrinidis, his wife and some of her friends.

They swam further out to escape the smoke, but as they did so, they began to be carried away by the wind and the current.

They lost sight of the shore and became disoriented.

"We couldn't see anything," he said.

Gale-force winds fanning the flames in the area also hampered firefighting efforts and whipped up the seas.

"We didn't all make it," Mr Stavrinidis said. One of the women in his group and one woman's son drowned.

"What upsets me and what I will carry in my heart is that it is terrible to see the person next to you drowning and not be able to help him. You can't. That's the only tragic thing," he said.

Mr Stavrinidis said he believed they were in the water for about two hours before being picked up by a fishing boat with an Egyptian crew.

"I'm grateful to all of them," he said.

"They jumped into the sea with their clothes still on. They made us tea and kept us warm. They were great."

© AP/Thanassis Stavrakis

Flames forced many people to flee into the water.

Andreaas Passios, who lives next to a compound northeast of Athens where 26 bodies were reportedly found, said "everything happened in seconds".

"I grabbed a beach towel. It saved my life. I soaked it, grabbed my wife and we ran to the sea," Mr Passios said.

Mr Passios said he and his wife stayed by the sea for two hours.

"It was unbelievable. Gas canisters were exploding. Burning pine cones were flying everywhere."

When the flames died down, Spyros Hadjiandreou came searching for loved ones.

"My niece and cousin were staying here on holiday. I don't know if they made it out," he said.

"I don't know if they are OK. I haven't heard from them."

Giannis Labropoulis from the city Patras, west of Athens, was driving along the highway when flames seemed to come out of nowhere.

He told the ABC's PM he knew there was a fire, but could not have imagined how fast it would appear.

"We were driving through the flames all of a sudden in the blink of any eye, to be honest," he said.

"We just saw the road going into smoke, and then all of a sudden the flames were on the left-hand side of the car.

"All the houses that were on the hill beside the highway, they were completely burnt out."

Mr Labropoulis said the flames came within two to three metres of his car.

"We were so kind of shocked, because although we were in an air-conditioned car, we felt the heat coming in."

"We were able to drive just I think by luck, to be honest, because the things were going on so fast, the flames expanded so fast that we could not even imagine that in three seconds this thing could happen," he said.

"The problem was that as we were driving through with all these small branches from the trees flying around, we could hear the car going, 'tak-tak-tak'.

"It felt like somebody was kind of shooting at you."

Update 19:00 CET

The death toll is already up to 76 in just 24 hours. 26 dead bodies were found close together on the beach in Mati. Flames apparently ripped through the area faster than people could run. For comparison, 84 people were killed over two weeks of wildfires around Athens in late August 2007...