Eighteen bodies were found Tuesday, August 22 by firefighters in a forest ravaged by flames in the Greek national park of Dadia, in the northeast of Greece, near the border with Turkey. It is a frequent entry point for migrants, as fire department spokesman Yiannis Artopios reported on television. “The possibility that these are people who entered our country illegally is being examined,” as no residents are missing, he continued, noting that the victims were found in the north of the city of Alexandroupoli.
The latest assessment of this new wave of fire amounts to twenty victims since the beginning of the week. On Monday, a suspected migrant was found dead along with an elderly shepherd north of Athens. The flames continue to spread in the northeast of Greece as well as on the islands of Evia and Kythnos and in the region of Boeotia (north of the capital), fanned by strong winds and temperatures of almost 41 ° C .
“It’s a similar situation to July,” a fire department spokeswoman told AFP, referring to a previous wave of fires that killed five people. Firefighters counted more than 60 fires that started in the past 24 hours. Six countries have sent aid through the European Union’s Civil Protection Mechanism.
Some 120 firefighters from Cyprus, Romania, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Germany and Serbia will contribute to the effort, firefighter spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis told state television ERT.
On Tuesday August 22, a new fire started on a plot of land in the industrial area of ??Aspropyrgos in the western suburbs of Athens, covering the area with a foul-smelling black cloud. The population of the area is asked to stay at home and parts of the roads are closed.
