Daily Record

Scots scarily close to holiday in hell

Family see Turkish crews battle wildfires

- BY CHERYL MCEVOY

A SCOTS family have told how fierce wildfires came “scarily close” to them in Turkey as a killer storm battered neighbouri­ng Greece.

Lorna Smith, husband Wallace and their three children watched in horror as the blaze raged near their accommodat­ion in the resort town of Gocek.

Lorna, 44, took video and pictures of the dramatic scenes on Wednesday, the last night of their holiday.

She wrote: “Wildfires in the hills just behind us. Came scarily close. Five helicopter­s with water baskets have been working continuous­ly to tackle the fires for the past four hours.”

The Glasgow family – including kids Rhona, Fraser and Lyndsey – were unharmed and were due to fly home last night.

Gocek is just a few miles from Dalaman Airport, used by thousands of Scots tourists.

More than 500 firefighte­rs helped tackle the blaze, which spread as far as the city of Fethiye as a result of strong winds.

In Greece, two children were among seven people killed and more than 100 injured when horrific weather hit the northern part of the country.

Wednesday night’s storm on the Halkidiki peninsula ripped up trees and power pylons, overturned vehicles and left swathes of debris across the coast.

Police said about 140 people were injured, most of them lightly, in Wednesday’s storm. Paramedics treated 65 of the injured.

Government spokesman Stelios Petsas said 23 people remained in hospital yesterday, including one woman who was critically ill in intensive care.

Six of those killed were tourists. Two were Russian, two were Romanian and another two were from the Czech Republic, Petsas said.

Two of those who died were killed when high winds overturned their vehicle, while an eight-year-old boy and his mother died when an outdoor restaurant’s lean-to roof collapsed. Another two people were killed by falling trees.

A body found at sea was identified as that of a missing fisherman. An air force helicopter spotted the remains of the 62-year-old 6.8 nautical miles off the coast.

A state of emergency was declared in the popular tourist region, near the northern city of Thessaloni­ki.

Crews were working to restore power to 80 per cent of the area, while the fire department said it had received more than 600 requests for assistance, including for rescues, to cut fallen trees and pump water from flooded basements.

Prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who was elected on Sunday, asked public order minister Michalis Chrisochoi­dis to head the response effort, and the army assisted repair crews.

Elsewhere in Greece, helicopter crews dropped water on wildfires near Corinth.

 ??  ?? HILLSIDE IN FLAMES The wildfires rage in Turkey. Below, the Smith family. Main picture: Getty Images
HILLSIDE IN FLAMES The wildfires rage in Turkey. Below, the Smith family. Main picture: Getty Images

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