Arson may be cause of deadly wildfires
ATHENS, GREECE • Frantic relatives headed to the Athens morgue Thursday to seek the fate of loved ones still missing after Greece’s deadliest forest fire in decades, a blaze that Greek authorities said they increasingly suspect resulted from arson.
Public Order Minister Nikos Toskas said satellite image analysis and ground inspections provided “serious indications” the fire that broke out in multiple places within a short time frame Monday and killed at least 82 people was set deliberately.
“We have serious indications and significant findings of criminal activity concerning arson,” Toskas said. “We are troubled by many factors, and there have been physical findings that are the subject of an investigation.”
He declined to provide more details.
The fire department’s special arson section, which probes all major fires, was conducting the investigation to determine how the wildfire started. The cause of the blaze has not been established. Before Toskas’ news conference, the mayor of the area where it broke out said it might have been sparks from a severed electricity pylon cable.
Rescue crews and volunteers continued to search on land and at sea for more victims. Many of the bodies were burned beyond recognition, making identification difficult.
The fire broke out near Rafina, northeast of Athens. Fanned by gale-force winds, it raced through seaside resorts of full-time homes and vacation residences popular with Athenians and tourists.
The large area the flames swept through further complicated the process of identifying victims. Officials said there was no way of knowing how many people were there at the time. By Thursday afternoon, there was still no official number of missing.
Thanassis Moraitis went to the morgue searching for his 90-year-old mother.
He had tried to drive away with his mother, wife and 19-year-old son, but the fire was too fast. They had to abandon the car and started running to the beach and into the water. Moraitis suffered burns to his leg from the heat of the air. His mother didn’t make it.
“In the sea, there was a rain of fire, there was smoke, there was a Force 12 wind,” said the 53-year-old, adding that boats picked the family up after about three hours.
“I didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye to my mother,” Moraitis said.