Forest fires kill 37 in southern Greece

FE Team | Published: August 26, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

ZAHARO, (Greece) Aug 25 (Agencies): Massive forest fires swept across Greece and killed at least 37 people in the south of the country, including several children, the fire department said Saturday. New fires broke out frequently, as embers were carried by the wind more than 170 fires raged across the country, from the western Ionian islands to Ioannina in northwestern Greece and down to the south. At least 25 fires started long after dark, leading authorities to look into arson as a cause.
At least 30 deaths occurred in the western Peloponnese region, near the town of Zaharo, where firefighters were searching through charred houses after daybreak, the fire department said. Among the dead were believed to be a mother and her four children who had been reported missing. Three firefighters were also killed in the area.
To the southeast, another six people died in another fire near the town of Areohoro in Laconia province, the department said.
In the southern Peloponnese, dozens of villages were reported to have been surrounded by walls of flames, trapping desperate residents who telephoned television and radio stations and appealed for help.
There were fears that the death toll could increase further as rescue crews reached the villages.
Arson was suspected in several cases, with many new fires starting during the night, said fire department spokesman Nikos Diamandis, and police and firefighting investigators were heading to the areas.
The most devastating fire was in the Zaharo area, where nine of those killed - including the three firefighters - died after a car crashed into a fire truck and led to a pile up as panicky residents tried to flee the area.
At dawn, the smoldering remains of the fire truck could be seen overturned in a gully off the pavement, and the charred wreckage of cars and a motorbike lay strewn across the road.
Scores of firemen and hundreds of soldiers battled the blazes, but in many cases their efforts were overwhelmed by choking smoke and heat from the towering flames.
Water-dropping helicopters and airplanes were redeployed to battle the fires, but some were hampered for a second day by strong winds.
A fire on the island of Evia north of the capital grew through the night, and the authorities declared a state of emergency in the area, said Sofia Moutsou, the mayor of the town of Styra. At least three villages were evacuated, the fire department's Diamandis said.
"If we don't stop this now there will be nothing left," said Moutsou early Saturday. She was hoping ferries could transport fire trucks to the island to help tackle the blaze.
The government on Friday appealed to European Union countries to "send any help they can," acting Interior Minister Spyros Flogaitis said after an emergency meeting of Greece's civil protection authority.
Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, who last week called early general elections for mid-September, visited Zaharo and described the situation as "an unspeakable tragedy."
Greece has suffered its worst summer for forest fires this year, with hundreds of blazes burning thousands of hectares of forest and brushland. With early elections just three weeks away, the devastating fires are certain to become a political issue. Karamanlis' government has already come under criticism for its response to previous fires that ravaged Greece earlier this summer. Ten people, including five firefighters, had died in those earlier fires.