FORLORN FAMILIES SEARCH SHORES FOR MISSING 25
LOVED ones still walk up and down Mati beach every day, hoping for signs of the 25 people believed to have been lost at sea during the onslaught of the Greek wildfires.
On steps leading down to the sand, a firefighter has left a note to say goodbye to his daughter. She died on the beach trying to escape the flames while he was fighting fires on the other side of the town. His wife is still in hospital.
It was here that dozens of people dived into the sea to escape the raging inferno and the burning smoke.
At the nearby Mati Hotel, receptionist Joanna says that sparks were running through the smoke and that it was as hot on the skin as fire.
There was no option for Brian O’Callaghan-Westropp and those trapped with him – they had to jump into the sea in the hope that they could outswim the choking plumes.
Many survivors we met along the beach recalled how burning pieces of wood plunged into the water as they swam. Many parents carried their children on their backs; others tried to make it across the strait to Evia Island on the other side. Some swam for hours and turned back to the beach when the worst of the smoke had lifted.
Every day now, a Navy battleship and Coast Guard speedboats go up and down the coast, searching for signs of bodies rising to the surface. Greece’s army has set up a canopy on the beach to serve meals to forlorn families sat on the steps staring out to sea.
On the low cliffs on either side of the small beach, other families have left flowers for loved ones who, blinded by the smoke, jumped onto the jagged rocks below to escape the flames then ran into the water. Days after the disaster, reading glasses and scarves dropped by the wildfire victims still lay at the bottom of the cliffs.
In the hospitals of Athens, the tragedy continues. Yesterday, an 85-year-old man died in the intensive care unit of Evangelismos Hospital in the capital, where he was being treated for his burns, bringing the official death toll to 90. But with 25 people officially missing, that death toll is expected to rise to at least 115.