The Greek authorities found 26 charred bodies on Tuesday near the Dadia forest, bordering the Greek-Turkish border, where a forest fire broke out yesterday that has not yet been controlled.
Firefighters believe they are migrants or asylum seekers because Athens has not received any missing persons notices in that area. “Eighteen people appeared burned near the Dadia forest, according to information provided by Civil Protection. The possibility that these people entered our country illegally is being investigated,” the representative of the fire department, Giannis Artophios, told the Greek state broadcaster. ERT. The body count then rose to 26.
The bodies were found near a cabin on the outskirts of the town of Avantas as firefighters were inspecting the charred remains of a building. Avantas and 11 other towns in the Evros region were evacuated Monday morning as the fire spread rapidly. The region affected by the fires is part of one of the routes of migrants and asylum seekers who cross overland from Turkey to Greece. Yesterday another charred body was found in a town near Alexandroupolis.
The authorities also believe that it could be a migrant or asylum seeker. Faced with this situation, the emergency services sent 112 loudspeaker announcements to evacuate the area and sent text messages asking the population to leave the area. Another five deaths related to forest fires were recorded in July, two of them air force pilots who died when their plane crashed while descending to fight a fire on the island of Evia, near Athens.
A fire broke out last Sunday east of Alexandroupolis and has already affected more than 4,600 hectares. Last night the patients of the Alexandroupoli hospital were evacuated. Most were transported by sea, including several newborn babies and intensive care patients. A school, a dozen houses and a cemetery have burned in two towns near the coastal city.
At the moment, more than 200 firefighters have been deployed in the area to fight the flames, supported by four planes and three helicopters. According to the Hellenic authorities, the fire is still out of control. In residential areas that have not been evacuated, authorities advise residents to keep windows and doors closed due to the threat of smoke and ash brought by high winds. Due to the other fire that broke out in the forest near the border, the Turkish authorities closed the Ipsala border crossing, although hours later they reopened it. Greek emergency services also eventually closed several surrounding roads as the flames spread.
In the last 24 hours, fifty new outbreaks have been declared and for the moment the most serious is the one that affects the surroundings of Alexandroupolis. “The city itself is under a shower of ash and the flames are getting closer and closer,” fire representative Artophios told ERT. At least eight of the sources that continue to burn are out of control.
On the other hand, the red alert has been activated due to the risk of new fires in the regions of Attica, Central Greece and Peloponnese. The authorities have prohibited the population from accessing mountainous areas and forests in those regions and have deployed emergency services to patrol the area. The protocols are expected to be reviewed again tomorrow.
In July, a fire broke out on the island of Rhodes, forcing the authorities to evacuate more than 20,000 tourists. The worst episode in the country’s recent history occurred in a forest area near Athens, when 104 people died in a spa in 2018. The authorities had not decided to evacuate the area and only alerted the population of the affected region.