| Wildfires rage on across Greece |
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Firefighting teams from across Europe are continuing to battle forest fires raging across southern Greece, which have claimed at least 63 lives. Several EU countries have sent their own firefighters, backed by planes and helicopters, to help tackle the blazes. Some 27 villages have been entirely abandoned and many parts of the Peloponnese peninsula are still ablaze. The Greek opposition has attacked the government's response to the crisis, calling it "totally incompetent". The EU help is said to be the union's largest offer of emergency assistance to a member state. Rescuers have evacuated villages in the Peloponnese as the fires threatened to engulf them, but there have been no fatalities since Monday, reports say. "The fires are still out of control. At the moment there is no threat to the villages, but the direction of the wind is impossible to predict," a fire service spokesman told the AFP news agency. On Monday, terrified residents in Frixa in the western Peloponnese were airlifted to safety by helicopters after being cut off by fire and thick black smoke. Isolated villages have been cut off in the region, sparking fears that the death toll could rise further. The government declared a state of emergency over the weekend as new fires, fanned by hot, gusting winds, continued to break out around Greece. From heaven to hell The village of Artimeta in the Peloponnese has become known as the "crematorium", says the BBC's Malcolm Brabant who is in the village near the town of Olympia. Burnt-out wrecks of cars are testament to local people's bid to escape the flames "in a convoy of death". Just across the road is a fire truck that is on its side, in which three firemen were killed. Continued.... |
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