Eighteen Bodies Discovered In Greece Wildfires
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
ATHENS (Worthy News) – Greece mourned Tuesday as eighteen bodies were found in a forested area in the north of the country hit by wildfires for the past four days.
The Greek firefighting service announced the discovery of the human remains near the city of Alexandroupolis amid reports that the victims were likely migrants.
A coroner and investigation team were heading to the scene Tuesday around the Dadia forest, announced fire department spokesman Ioannis Artopios said
“Given that there have been no reports of a missing person or missing residents from the surrounding areas, the possibility is being investigated that these are people who had entered the country illegally,” Artopios added.
The fire highlighted concerns that the hot, dry summer impact southern European countries prone to wildfires.
Another major blaze has been burning across Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands for a week, forcing massive evacuations of thousands of people, although no injuries or damage to homes was immediately reported.
Witnesses have spoken about “apocalyptic scenes” in blazes such as those raging in Spain and Greece.
European Union officials have blamed human-caused have blamed climate change for the increasing frequency and intensity of wildfires in Europe, though not all experts agree.
The EU claims that 2022 was the second-worst year for wildfire damage on record after 2017. The Evros region of north-eastern Greece, not far from the Turkish border, has been ravaged by fires.
A hospital in the city of Alexandroupolis had to be evacuated, reports said. Newborn babies and intensive care patients were apparently among those moved to a ferry at the port.
Yet more suffering was expected as new fires reportedly broke out in several parts of Greece, including in woodland northwest of Athens and an industrial area on the capital’s western fringes.
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