Rescuers unable to cope with fire for fourth day
Photo: REUTERS
In northeastern Greece, an area engulfed in wildfires caused by the hot weather, rescuers found 18 charred bodies.
Firefighters in Thrace, where Alexandroupolis is located, have been unable to tackle the blaze for a fourth day as gale-force winds blow across northeastern Greece, contributing to the spread of the flames.
The dead were found near the Dadia forest, where the footpath used by migrants from the Middle East and Asia crossing the EU-Turkey border passes.
Law enforcement believes all those killed were illegal immigrants, as no one reported missing persons in and around Alexandroupolis.
Greek Migration Minister Dimitris Kayridis said that “this tragedy once again confirms the deadly danger of illegal immigration”; he also accused the smugglers of endangering the lives of migrants.
Meanwhile, the area around Alexandroupolis, which is Greece’s largest seaport, is on fire. The port is also used for the importation of military cargo into NATO territory. If the fires come close to the port, then it is possible that NATO’s eastern flank will be left without its main transportation hub, through which large amounts of the alliance’s military aid to Ukraine also passes.
The fires approached Alexandroupolis: several houses burned today in the village of Avantas. The hospital located on the outskirts of the city was completely evacuated, everyone had to be taken out, including newborns. The patients and doctors were transferred to a specially equipped ferry, which was sent to the nearby port of Kavala.
– I have been working in this hospital for 27 years and I have never seen anything like it. – said the nurse Nikos Gioktsidis. – Stretchers, drips, patients everywhere. All this is like a war.
Europe continues to languish from another wave of extreme heat. Forest fires are raging not only in Greece, but also in Italy, Portugal and other countries.
Greece has already requested international assistance: Romania, Sweden, Germany and Croatia have sent rescue teams and firefighters to help the Greeks.
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