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Deadly fires: 7 charged
27/08/2007 12:24 - (SA)
Athens - Seven people have been charged with starting forest fires in Greece that have claimed the lives of more than 60 people and caused a national catastrophe, a firefighters' spokesperson said on Monday.
They were among 10 people arrested since the fires began raging through southern Greece on Friday, spokesperson Yannis Stamoulis told a press conference.
A further 26 people have been charged with offences linked to a series of fires that have blighted Greece since early July, he said.
Greek authorities fear the blazes have been started deliberately. The media is speculating that criminal gangs are seeking to use the fires to clear forest and allow development to take place.
The government has offered a reward of up to one million euros for information leading to arrests of arsonists.
Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, who faces a general election in three weeks' time, has vowed that all the devastated forests will be re-planted.
Meanwhile AP reports that a fire broke out Monday on the fringes of Athens, burning down a slope of Mount Ymittos and bearing down on a suburb of the capital as wildfires that have killed at least 61 people ravaged vast areas of the country.
Smell of burning permeates the air
Four planes, a helicopter and 15 trucks with 45 firefighters were scrambled to the blaze, which was burning through shrubs towards the suburb of Papagou, the fire department said. A pall of smoke hung over central Athens, and the smell of burning permeated the air.
For four days, the entire country has been swept by Greece's worst wildfires in living memory. Fuelled by strong, hot winds and parched grass and trees, they have engulfed villages, forests and farmland, leaving in their wake a blackened landscape dotted with the carcasses of animals. New blazes broke out faster than others could be brought under control.
From Evros in the north to the Western islands of Corfu and Kefalonia and down to the Peloponnese in the south, the same scenes played out: old and young alike grabbed garden hoses, buckets of water and tree branches to beat back the flames in desperate - and often futile - efforts to save their homes.
Hundreds of people were believed to have been left homeless.
"The whole village is burning. It's been burning for three days," one woman sobbed, clutching her 20-month-old daughter as they sheltered in a church along with dozens of others near Figalia in the western Peloponnese.
Ancient Olympia, the birthplace of the Olympic games and one of the most revered ancient sites, barely escaped on Sunday, when a massive firefighting effort saved the 2 800-year-old ruins from flames that were leaping up to 100m in the air.
89 new fires broke out
The flames burned trees and shrubs just a few metres from the walls of the museum at the 2 800-year-old site, one of Greece's top tourist attractions. Helicopters and aircraft covered the ruins with water and foam. The flames reached the edge of the ancient stadium, searing the grass and incinerating the trees on the hill above. Volunteers grabbed buckets of water and joined firefighters.
Pristine cypress and pine forests around the site were obliterated, but the ruins were saved.
The worst affected were the island of Evia north of Athens and the Peloponnese in southern Greece, where the fire department said one more person was found dead on Monday, bringing the toll to at least 61.
The government, which declared a state of emergency over the weekend, appealed for help from abroad, and more than 12 countries were sending planes, helicopters and firefighters.
French and Spanish aircraft and Israeli firefighters were among those joining the fight against the massive blazes. A firefighting helicopter from Norway was expected to arrive later on Monday.
In the 24 hours from 06:00 on Sunday until Monday morning, 89 new fires broke out, fire department spokesperson Nikos Diamandis said. Twenty-eight were considered particularly dangerous, the department said.
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