At least 49 people have been killed, scores more injured and almost 700 others rescued from the sea after a devastating wildfire swept through a small resort town near Athens, the Greek fire department has said.
Huge flames trapped families with children as they tried to flee from Mati, 18 miles (29 km) east of the Greek capital, where the blaze hit on Monday afternoon. It was by far the country’s worst fire since fires raged across the southern Peloponnese peninsula in August 2007, killing dozens.
“We will do whatever is humanly possible to control it,” Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told reporters, adding that a state of emergency had been declared in the Attica region – which includes Athens – and that “all emergency forces” had been mobilised.
Greece has also invoked European Union civil protection agreements to seek help from it EU peers. A military transport plane is due to arrive with 60 firefighters from Cyprus, while two water-dropping planes are expected from Spain.
By dawn on Tuesday, fires were still burning around the capital, while others broke out elsewhere during the night.
As one civil protection agency official described the situation as “a national tragedy”, reports emerged that 26 people had died as they huddled tightly together close to the beach at Mati.
“They had tried to find an escape route but unfortunately these people and their kids didn’t make it in time,” Nikos Economopoulos, head of Greece’s Red Cross, told Greece’s Skai TV. Other witnesses said they had also seen several bodies in the area.
Twenty casualties were reported by government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos earlier on Tuesday. One of the youngest victims was thought to be a six-month-old baby who died of smoke inhalation.
The fire department said that 156 adults and 16 children have been taken to hospital. Eleven of the adults are in serious condition.
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