Rescuers find 18 burned bodies as wildfires spread in Greece

ALEXANDROUPOLIS, Greece - Eighteen burned bodies, possibly migrants, were found on Tuesday in a rural area in northern Greece where wildfires have been burning out of control for a fourth day, authorities said, as gale force winds fanned blazes across the country.

In a city nearby, dozens of hospital patients were evacuated onto a ferry, while a blaze on the foothills of Mount Parnitha sent thick clouds of smoke over the capital Athens.

The bodies were found in the Evros region in the north-east of the country, a popular route for migrants from the Middle East and Asia crossing the river from Turkey into the European Union. An uptick in crossings was reported this month.

“The possibility that these are people who entered the country illegally is being investigated,” a fire brigade spokesman said, adding that searches were ongoing.

Another body thought to belong to a migrant was found on Monday in a rural area some 40km away.

In the nearby village of Avantas, fires swept through a number of homes overnight.

“It has reached the entire village,” said Mr Alexandros Chrisoulidis, a 19-year-old Avantas resident. “Our own house up there, where the fire started, has completely burned down. There is nothing,” he said.

A 23-year-old resident who gave his name as Nikos, said: “The situation is tragic. All that is needed right now are prayers and rain.”

Fires near the capital Athens burned homes and cars on Tuesday and forced residents to flee on foot, some covering their faces with their clothes as smoke thickened the air.

“The winds are very strong... it is a very difficult firefighting task. God help us,” said Mr Sotiris Masouris, a 50-year-old resident of Hasia, west of Athens.

The wildfires come as Southern Europe has been hit by a new heatwave with

temperatures reaching or exceeding 40 deg C in some parts.

Fires were also burning in Spain, Italy and Portugal.

Summer wildfires in Greece are common but have been made worse in recent years by unusually hot, dry and windy conditions that scientists have linked to climate change.

More than 20,000 foreign tourists had to be

evacuated from resorts on the holiday island of Rhodes

in July as wildfires burned for a week, destroying homes and hotels.

Hospital evacuated

Earlier on Tuesday, dozens of hospital patients, including newborn babies, were evacuated onto a ferry as hundreds of firefighters struggled to contain the blaze that broke out on Saturday near the northern city of Alexandroupolis.

It spread quickly, fanned by high winds, sending plumes of smoke above the port city and turning the night sky red.

By early on Tuesday, authorities said 65 patients at the University Hospital of Alexandroupolis had been evacuated as a precaution onto a ferry in the port.

The ferry was turned into a makeshift hospital. Elderly patients lay on mattresses on the cafeteria floor, paramedics attended to others on stretchers and a woman held a man resting on a sofa, an IV drip attached to his hand.

“I’ve been working for 27 years, I’ve never seen anything like this,” said nurse Nikos Gioktsidis. “Stretchers everywhere, patients here, IV drips there... it was like a war, like a bomb had exploded.”

The ferry later sailed to the nearby port of Kavala, state broadcaster ERT said.

Overnight, as flames approached another clinic at the premises of the Alexandroupolis Metropolitan Church Foundation, staff carried a man on a wheelchair to an ambulance, while others were evacuated on stretchers.

Father Christodoulos Karathanasis, director of the Holy Metropolis of Alexandroupolis, said 200 patients from both facilities had been evacuated in just over four hours.

Fire brigade spokesman Ioanis Artopios said the risk of fire remained high in the coming days.

Fifty-six firefighters arrived in Greece from Romania on Tuesday and Athens was expecting further assistance from the Czech Republic, Croatia, Germany and Sweden with 64 more firefighters, 19 fire engines, seven planes and one helicopter, the fire brigade said. REUTERS