- Deadly Wildfires Continue to Ravage Greece
- Tragic Loss of 18 Refugees and Migrants
- Challenges for Firefighters Amid Extreme Conditions
Fires that have killed 20 people in Greece’s hills and Evros area near Turkey continue uncontrollably.
18 refugees and migrants who crossed the border and hid in forests north of Alexandroupolis may have died.
Greece has conveyed its deepest sorrow for the deaths that occurred near the Turkish border in the Dadia forest.
Five days have passed with fires burning near the city and west along the coast.
A fire on the foothills of Mount Parnitha northwest of Athens is also being fought by firefighters.
Gusts whipping up flames and temperatures up to 40 degrees Celsius hinder their attempts.
Tuesday, the fire department discovered the victims near a shanty outside the village of Avantas, north of Alexandroupolis.
“Unfortunately, their stay in the Dadia forest proved fatal,” said government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis, noting that the alarm had been raised in the area where they were discovered and messages of evacuation had been sent via the mobile 112 emergency service.
Migrants and refugees attempting to enter the European Union face numerous dangers. Including being beaten, plundered, detained, forced back across a border, or drowning in the Mediterranean. Currently, the dangers include a ring of fire in northern Greece.
Fire service spokesman Yiannis Artopios stated that there were no reports of missing residents. And it is widely believed that those who perished had recently crossed the long, winding border between Greece and Turkey along the River Evros.
The river and large forest on the other bank give shelter for thousands desperate to enter EU territory.
Two of the deceased were children, according to local coroner Pavlos Pavlidis, who stated that all of the bodies were discovered within a 500-meter (1,640-foot) radius, some near a sheep enclosure.
Their corpses have been transported to Alexandroupolis for autopsies. However, identifying them will be difficult, and the authorities will require family members to come forward.
Since he has been unable to contact him for four days, a Syrian man suspects his 27-year-old cousin perished in the fire. The cousin was part of a group of Syrians, Afghans, and Iraqis who hoped to follow a well-traveled path through the forest.
Despite the evacuation order, the Syrians stated that they would not have called Greek authorities for assistance for fear of being sent back across the border into Turkey.
The Greek police arrested hundreds of smugglers and 900 people each day trying to enter the border in August. Human smuggling is a lucrative enterprise involving criminal networks.
A gang of young men tried to board a truck entering Greece overnight at the Turkey-Greece border crossing at Ipsala.
Also one individual was able to conceal himself by lying horizontally on top. As soon as they were noticed, the others vanished into the night.
Many villagers in the vicinity of Alexandroupolis are enraged because they believe the fires are caused by migrants who cross the frontier and hide in the forest before entering the country.
However, there is no evidence that migrants started this fire in the Dadia forest. Earlier this week, the mayor of Alexandroupolis attributed the flames to a storm-related lightning strike.
A video filmed in the region of Alexandroupolis depicting a man ‘arresting’ refugees and migrants and locking them in a caravan attached to his vehicle has sparked outrage in Greece. The man accuses the migrants and refugees of attempting to burn Greeks as he walks around the caravan. He then opens the door to reveal a group of terrified young men.
Two individuals suspected of assisting the suspect were also arrested, according to the police. They added that the video depicted the unlawful detention of “thirteen illegal immigrants of Syrian and Pakistani descent.”
In a separate development, the prosecutor of the Supreme Court, Georgia Adeilini, has called for an investigation into both the causes of the fires in the Evros region and the alleged racist violence against migrants that has occurred since the 18 fatalities in the Dadia forest.
The Canakkale region of western Turkey evacuated 1,200 residents from 11 villages after a second day of wildfires.
Wednesday, marine traffic was suspended in the Dardanelles Strait between the Aegean and the Black Sea to enable firefighting helicopters and other aircraft to collect water.
The Dadia forest in northeastern Greece is still burning, but the largest Evros front is west of Alexandroupolis.
Three Menidi elderly homes have been evacuated as firefighters struggle on Athens’ outskirts.
Hasia and Fyli, located in the foothills of Mount Parnitha, have already experienced the destruction of their homes.
Officials in Greece have demanded the evacuation of thousands of people from the large district of Ano Liosia in the northwest of the capital, even though many refuse to leave.
