Dozens dead as holiday resort devastated
GREECE - At least 50 people have been killed, scores more injured and almost 700 others rescued from the sea after a devastating wildfire swept through a small resort town near Athens, authorities in Greece have said.
Huge flames trapped families with children as they tried to flee from Mati, 18 miles (29km) east of the Greek capital, where the blaze hit on Monday afternoon. It was by far the country’s worst fire since blazes raged across the southern Peloponnese peninsula in August 2007, killing dozens. “We will do whatever is humanly possible to control it,” the prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, told reporters, adding that a state of emergency had been declared in the Attica region which includes Athens and that all emergency forces had been mobilized. Tsipras declared three days of mourning for the dozens killed in Mati but warned the fires were still burning. “We mustn’t let mourning overwhelm us, because these hours are hours of battle, unity, courage and above all solidarity,” he said. Greece has invoked European Union civil protection agreements to seek help. A military transport plane is due to arrive with 60 firefighters from Cyprus, while two waterdropping planes left Spain at dawn on Tuesday. Turkey and Italy have also offered to send aeroplanes and helicopters. One civil protection agency official described the situation as “a national tragedy” and reports emerged that 26 people had died as they huddled tightly together close to the beach at Mati. “They had tried to find an escape route but unfortunately these people and their kids didn’t make it in time,” Nikos Economopoulos, the head of Greece’s Red Cross, told the country’s Skai TV. Other witnesses said they had also seen several bodies in the area. Twenty casualties were reported by the government earlier on Tuesday. One of the youngest victims was thought to be a six-month-old baby who died of smoke inhalation. The fire department said 156 adults and 16 children had been taken to hospital. Eleven of the adults are in a serious condition. The Greek coastguard said the bodies of four people were retrieved from the sea off Mati. In total, the coastguard and other vessels rescued 696 people who had fled to beaches. Boats plucked another 19 people from the sea. “Mati doesn’t even exist as a settlement anymore,” one woman told Skai TV. “I saw corpses, burned-out cars. I feel lucky to be alive.” Mati is in the Rafina region, which is popular with local tourists, particularly pensioners and children at holiday camps. “I personally saw at least 100 homes in flames,” said Evangelos Bournous, the mayor of the Rafina-Pikermi area. “I saw it with my eyes, it is a total catastrophe.” (The Guardian)