Grim discoveries after Greek fire

Victims overtaken in homes, on foot, in cars

At least 81 people died in huge wildfires around Athens, Greek authorities have said, as rescuers scoured scorched homes and burned-out cars for victims of one of the world’s deadliest fire outbreaks.

Scores of locals and holidaymakers fled to the sea to try to escape the flames as they tore through towns and villages near the capital stoked by 100-kilometer-per-hour wind gusts, devouring woodland and hundreds of buildings.

Greek media have described the disaster as a “national tragedy,” while Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras cut short a visit to Bosnia and announced three days of national mourning.

A young Irishman on honeymoon was among those who died, the British embassy in Greece confirmed.

According to British media, Brian O’Callaghan-Westropp had been on honeymoon in the coastal village of Mati when his car was caught in the wildfires.

His new wife Zoe managed to escape to a nearby beach. She was taken to hospital with burns, the reports said.

Fire service spokeswoman Stavroula Maliri said Wednesday that 81 people were now known to have died. The toll surpasses the 77 people killed in the previous deadliest fires in Greece, on the southern island of Evia in 2007.

Apart from the Irishman, the victims included three other tourists – a Polish mother and her son, as well as a Belgian national whose teenage daughter survived the blaze.

Maliri said firefighters continued to search for bodies after receiving numerous calls reporting people missing.

It is possible that some of those unaccounted for “will be among the victims,” Maliri said.

She added that relatives of those missing had been asked to provide DNA samples to help authorities identify bodies.

When the fires broke out on Monday evening, terrified residents and tourists were overtaken by the flames in homes, on foot or in their cars. AFP photographers saw the burnt bodies of people and dogs.

Survivors have given harrowing accounts of fleeing the fast-moving blaze with only the clothes on their backs, as flames engulfed whole towns.

“My husband said we had to leave with our seven-year-old grandson,” Kiriaki Alexiadou, a resident of the devastated village of Mati, told AFP.

Choking back the tears on Wednesday, she pointed to the charred skeleton of a house next to hers.

“The policewoman who lived there, her husband and their two children left on foot towards the sea but they were trapped by this wall of flame.”

The burned bodies of 26 people, including small children, were discovered at a villa in Mati, 40 kilometers (25 miles) northeast of Athens, rescuers said.

At least six people died trying to escape the flames into the sea, where some 715 people were evacuated by boat, the government said.