18 deaths, wildfire firefighters in northeastern Greece | Department | Greece
The Greek fire department said on the 22nd that wildfires in the Alexandropolis region in the northeast of the country have resulted in 18 deaths.
The Greek state television reported, citing local officials, that rescue workers found 18 charred bodies in the forest destroyed by wildfires in the region, which should be illegal immigrants entering Greece.
The local wildfire has been burning for 4 days, and more than ten residents have been evacuated. According to reports, a local hospital was forced to evacuate due to a fire, and patients were transferred to other hospitals.
Greece's Athens News Agency reported that there are currently 65 wildfires burning in Greece, two of which are located in the Attica region where the capital Athens is located. Firefighters from multiple European countries have been dispatched to support Greece's firefighting operations.
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Wildfires are raging in many parts of Greece, and the European Union is dispatching firefighting planes to support them
Wildfires continue to burn in many parts of Greece, making it difficult to control them due to high temperatures and strong winds. On the 22nd, the European Commission's crisis management commissioner, Yanez Lenlacich, said that the EU has provided Greece with more emergency resources, including airplanes, to assist in firefighting.
Lenaldic posted on social media that EU member states Germany, Croatia, Sweden, and the Czech Republic will send five planes and one helicopter to Greece. Cyprus has provided two firefighting aircraft, and Romania has dispatched firefighters.
The EU coordinates emergency aid to Greece based on civil defense mechanisms. A spokesperson for the Greek fire department confirmed that Germany has provided two firefighting aircraft.
The Alexandropolis region in northeastern Greece is one of the areas most severely affected by wildfires. A spokesperson for the fire department said on the 22nd that firefighters have found the bodies of 18 deceased individuals near a shed in this area, and their identities are still being confirmed. As there have been no reports of missing persons in this area recently, the authorities do not rule out the possibility that the deceased were immigrants.
A fire broke out near the city of Alexandropolis on the 19th and quickly spread. As of the 22nd, it was still difficult to control, and dozens of patients from a hospital were forced to transfer to a ferry at the port. More than 200 firefighters, 4 planes, and 3 helicopters were deployed to extinguish the fire.
Two new fires have emerged near the capital Athens. The fire department said that more than 100 firefighters and 9 planes were extinguishing fires near Athens. In addition, in the Kawara area, a wildfire destroyed dozens of houses.
As of the 22nd, several areas designated by Greece as fire risk zones, including Athens, are at extremely high risk, and people are prohibited from entering the mountainous and forested areas of these areas.
According to the Associated Press, two Cyprus firefighting planes and 56 Romanian firefighters were deployed to Alexandroupolis to extinguish the fire, while French firefighters assisted in extinguishing the fire on the island of Evia.
Since the beginning of this year, Greece has experienced multiple severe wildfires. Last month, a wildfire broke out on the resort island of Rhode, forcing over 20000 people to evacuate, including a large number of foreign tourists. According to relevant sources, this is the largest evacuation operation in Greek history due to wildfires.