Greece counts cost of deadliest wildfires
ATHENS — Greece was on Thursday counting the cost of its deadliest wildfires in living memory, as emergency crews searched incinerated homes and vehicles for the missing after at least 81 people were confirmed to have died.
Firefighters were still dealing with pockets of flames from the unprecedented outbreak around Athens as the government announced a raft of measures to compensate those affected.
The fires, which broke out on Monday, struck coastal villages popular with holidaymakers and burned with such ferocity that most people fled to the safety of the sea with just the clothes on their backs.
Survivors spoke of harrowing scenes including entire families burned alive in their homes.
One resident of Mati, the village worst affected, described it as “a night of hell”.
A fire service spokesman said on Thursday that a blaze near Kineta, 25 kilometers west of Athens, was largely being managed, though it was still working to extinguish pockets of flames.
There was still no official word on the number of people missing after the catastrophe, but the death toll of 81 already makes this Greece’s worst fire outbreak in decades.
Among those killed was a newly married Irishman who had been on honeymoon in Mati when his car was caught in the wildfires. Although his wife Zoe managed to escape to a nearby beach, she was taken to hospital with burns, according to British media.
An emergency services spokeswoman said firefighters were still searching for people reported missing by their relatives.
She added that relatives of those missing had been asked to provide DNA samples to help authorities identify bodies.
A website set up by residents lists 27 people still unaccounted for, including a pair of 9-year-old twin girls.
Chinese help
The Chinese community in Greece has demonstrated its solidarity with Greek society, as the country is trying to cope with the wildfires.
Representatives of the community had gathered in a square in Athens and started to collect clothes, shoes, personal care items and money to buy medical supplies for the victims of the fire.
“We are together, together we will succeed” was the slogan of the effort, while many Chinese like He Ai, owner of a travel agency, visited the affected areas to offer help. “We came here to help the people, if we can do just a little thing to help them we will feel much better,” she said.
“Up to now, about 500 Chinese donated money or other things. There will be more to come of course,” said Chen Feng, president of the Chinese community of Greece. “Greece is our second home, we should contribute to the people who lost everything in the fires.”
More than 71 people are still being treated in hospital as of Wednesday evening, including almost a dozen children, most of whom were in a “serious condition”, the fire services said.