Fire tragedy being felt in Tassie
TASMANIA’S Greek community is working to find ways to help victims of bushfires that have ravaged seaside communities in Greece.
Greek Community state president Nick Theodoropoulos said Tasmanians wanted to reach out to help after the devastation of wildfires that have claimed more than 70 lives.
“The Greek community of Hobart is closing ranks to assist as best as possible with providing funds and any support that may be requested of us,” he said.
“At this point we are dealing with co-ordinating fundraising efforts to assist the Greek people and their plight.”
Mr Theodoropoulos said the method of fundraising was still being planned, but it was likely an event would be announced soon.
About 3000 homes have been destroyed by the blaze at the seaside resorts of Mati and Rafina and last night the death toll stood at 79.
There are about 2500 members of the Greek community across Tasmania, many of whom have relatives in Greece.
“The carnage is being felt Greece-wide and from all the correspondence received from abroad it appears that the death toll is rising and the fires are still burning fiercely,” Mr Theodoropoulos said .
“The geography of the area has made the efforts of the firefighting crews nearly impossible.
“The full extent of the carnage has yet to be determined and to this end we are awaiting for further correspondence from abroad.”
A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman said no Australians have yet been reported injured or missing from Greece’s fires.
RESCUE crews are searching through charred homes and cars for those still missing after the deadliest wildfires to hit Greece in decades devastated coastal areas near Athens, killing at least 79 people and forcing thousands to flee.
There was no official indication as to how many people might be missing, and some took to social media and Greek television stations with appeals for information on their loved ones.
The death toll was expected to increase as crews searched more of the areas affected by the fires.
More than 280 firefighters were still in the area to the northeast of Athens in the wider Rafina area, dousing the remaining flames to prevent flare-ups.
A further 200 firefighters backed up by a water-dropping helicopter were tackling the second forest fire west of the capital, near Agioi Theodori, where local authorities preemptively evacuated three nearby communities.
Flags across Greece were flying at half-mast after the Prime Minis-ter declared three days of national mourning for the victims.
The two fires on either side of the Greek capital started Monday within hours of each other, and were fanned by gale-force winds that hampered firefighting efforts.
The speed with which the fire northeast of Athens spread took many by surprise, and is believed to have contributed to the high death toll.
“We couldn’t see any fire. The fire came suddenly. There was so much wind, we didn’t realise how it happened,” said Anna Kiriazova, 56, who survived with her husband by shutting themselves in their house instead of trying to run through the flames.
Ms Kiriazova said they doused their house in the Mati area near Rafina with water from a garden hose, and credited the fact that their window frames were metal instead of wood for their home being spared.
“We shut ourselves in the househouse, wwe closed the shutters, we had towels over our faces,” she said.
“The inferno lasted about an hour. I have no words to describe what we lived through.”
Her 65-year-old husband, Theodoros Christopoulos, said the couple decided to take shelter in their home because the narrow roads outside were jammed with cars.
“There was a great panic because the whole street was blocked by cars,” Mr Christopoulos said.
“Shouting, hysteria, they could see the fire was coming with the wind. It already smelled a lot, the sky was black overhead and in no time at all the fire was here.”
Hundreds of others abandoned cars and fled to nearby beaches, from where they were evacuated hours later by coast guard and private boats.
Dozens swam out to sea despite rough weather to escape the intense heat and choking smoke blanketing the area.
Some 26 men, women and children made it almost as far at the gated staircase leading down to the Greek coastline and the safety of water. In the end, they simply couldn’t see it.
Greek authorities found a desperate huddle of bodies just a few steps away from the path to safety.
But the onrushing wall of smoke and flame at first blinded them, then choked them.
Their charred bodies, burnt-out cars, a few molten belongings — and the fire-blasted pine trees around them — are all that remains.
The charred bodies of the
26 people, including small children, were discovered at a villa at the seaside resort of Mati, 40km northeast of Athens, said rescuer Vassilis Andriopoulos.
They were huddled together in small groups, “perhaps families, friends or strangers, entwined in a last attempt to protect themselves as they tried to reach the sea”, he said.
Elsewhere, bodies were recovered from the sea, where victims had fled in vain to escape the flames and smoke.
The intense wind had whipped fireballs into the sea itself.
Dozens of people were overtaken by the flames in their homes, on foot or in their cars. News photographers saw the burnt bodies of humans and dogs.
Out of a total 187 people hospitalised, 82 including almost a dozen children were still being treated, 10 of whom were in “serious condition”, the fire services said.
According to the mayor of Marathon, Ilias Psinakis, about 3000 homes have been de- stroyed by the blaze at the seaside resorts of Mati and Rafina. One of them was his own.
Greece is in mourning with local mayor Rafinas-Pikermi telling media he expects the number of victims will ‘be three digits’.
“Today, Greece is in mourning,” said Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who cut short a visit to Bosnia and announced three days of national mourning.
Greek media described the disaster as a “national tragedy”.
The Government has not yet said how many people were regarded as missing. But the death toll is likely to surpass that from the blazes which hit Greece’s southern island of Evia in 2007 in which 77 people perished.
It’s believed no Australians have been hurt in the fires.
A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman said the Australian Embassy in Athens had confirmed with local authorities no Australians have yet been reported injured or missing.