Death Toll Soars as Forest Fires Kill 37 in Southern Greece
Pastor Dale Morgan
Aug 25, 3:45 AM EDT
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Death Toll Soars as Forest Fires Kill 37 in Southern Greece*
By PETROS GIANAKOURIS
Associated Press Writer
ZAHARO, Greece (AP) -- Massive forest fires swept across Greece and
killed at least 37 people in the south of the country, including several
children, the fire department said Saturday. New fires broke out
frequently, as embers were carried by the wind.
More than 170 fires raged across the country, from the western Ionian
islands to Ioannina in northwestern Greece and down to the south. At
least 25 fires started long after dark, leading authorities to look into
arson as a cause.
At least 30 deaths occurred in the western Peloponnese region, near the
town of Zaharo, where firefighters were searching through charred houses
after daybreak, the fire department said. Among the dead were believed
to be a mother and her four children who had been reported missing.
Three firefighters were also killed in the area.
To the southeast, another six people died in another fire near the town
of Areohoro in Laconia province, the department said.
In the southern Peloponnese, dozens of villages were reported to have
been surrounded by walls of flames, trapping desperate residents who
telephoned television and radio stations and appealed for help.
There were fears that the death toll could increase further as rescue
crews reached the villages.
Arson was suspected in several cases, with many new fires starting
during the night, said fire department spokesman Nikos Diamandis, and
police and firefighting investigators were heading to the areas.
The most devastating fire was in the Zaharo area, where nine of those
killed - including the three firefighters - died after a car crashed
into a fire truck and led to a pile up as panicky residents tried to
flee the area.
At dawn, the smoldering remains of the fire truck could be seen
overturned in a gully off the pavement, and the charred wreckage of cars
and a motorbike lay strewn across the road.
Scores of firemen and hundreds of soldiers battled the blazes, but in
many cases their efforts were overwhelmed by choking smoke and heat from
the towering flames.
Water-dropping helicopters and airplanes were redeployed to battle the
fires, but some were hampered for a second day by strong winds.
A fire on the island of Evia north of the capital grew through the
night, and the authorities declared a state of emergency in the area,
said Sofia Moutsou, the mayor of the town of Styra. At least three
villages were evacuated, the fire department's Diamandis said.
"If we don't stop this now there will be nothing left," said Moutsou
early Saturday. She was hoping ferries could transport fire trucks to
the island to help tackle the blaze.
The government on Friday appealed to European Union countries to "send
any help they can," acting Interior Minister Spyros Flogaitis said after
an emergency meeting of Greece's civil protection authority.
Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, who last week called early general
elections for mid-September, visited Zaharo and described the situation
as "an unspeakable tragedy."
Greece has suffered its worst summer for forest fires this year, with
hundreds of blazes burning thousands of hectares of forest and
brushland. With early elections just three weeks away, the devastating
fires are certain to become a political issue. Karamanlis' government
has already come under criticism for its response to previous fires that
ravaged Greece earlier this summer. Ten people, including five
firefighters, had died in those earlier fires.
A recent three-day heat wave, in which temperatures have hit 104
degrees, has left forests and scrubland parched, and the flames have
been fanned by strong winds across Greece.
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Associated Press writer Elena Becatoros in Athens contributed to this
report.