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'It's hell here'
26/08/2007 20:13 - (SA)
Ancient Olympia - Firefighters
battled to save ancient Olympia on Sunday as Greece's worst
forest fires in decades ravaged hills around the historic site
and the death toll rose to 56.
Thick black smoke billowed above the ancient ruins as dense
pine and cypress woods burned around the site of the first
Olympic Games and fire brigades evacuated nearby villages on
Greece's southern Peloponnese peninsula.
"The fire reached the hill overlooking ancient Olympia, but
was stopped just before entering the archaeological site," said
a fire brigade spokesperson. "Six planes, two helicopters, 15 fire
engines and 45 firemen participated in the effort."
The fires scorched the yard of the museum, housing a number
of famous classical sculptures such as Hermes by Praxiteles and
other finds from the ruins of the temples and sports facilities,
Greek television said.
Ancient Olympia boasts the ruins of the stadium and pagan
temples that hosted the Olympics for centuries from 776 BC and
is the site of an Olympic flame ceremony every two years.
"Here it is, the contrast: ancient Greece gave the world
civilisation and modern Greece gives it destruction," a resident
of ancient Olympia told Alter TV station.
Since Friday, towering walls of flame have cut a swathe of
destruction through the Peloponnese and swept across other
regions, prompting Greece to declare a nationwide state of
emergency on Saturday.
Firefighters and planes from other European Union countries
have joined the battle.
The fires have covered Athens in white ash, forced thousands
to flee their villages and burned about 500 homes and thousands
of hectares of forest and farmland.
Death toll rises
The death toll rose to 56, including a mother clutching her
children, and an elderly woman found burnt just outside ancient
Olympia.
"The church bells are ringing. It's hell here," a resident
from Oinoi village north of Olympia said by phone on television.
"In the name of God, where are the firefighters? Where is the
help?"
Fire brigades, stretched to their limit by scores of blazes,
threw reinforcements from Greece's EU partners into action to
fight blazes stretching over 160km across the
Peloponnese, the island of Evia and near Athens.
Two French and one Italian fire-fighting plane dropped water
on burning hillsides south of the capital and 60 firefighters
from Cyprus joined the fray. More help was expected on Sunday
and Monday from at least 11 countries.
From the Peloponnese to Evia, northeast of Athens, residents
used garden hoses and buckets in futile efforts to save their
homes. Floating ash swirled round the temples on the Acropolis
above the capital, and the smell of smoke permeated the city.
The worst forest fires in decades broke out on Friday and
soon erupted on scores of fronts around the country, prompting
Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis to blame arsonists.
- Reuters
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