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posted by martyb on Thursday July 26 2018, @03:10AM   Printer-friendly
from the Greek-tragedy dept.

The Chicago Tribune reports:

The death toll from Greece's deadliest wildfires in decades climbed to 74 Tuesday as rescue crews searched on land and sea for those who sought to escape the blazes that engulfed popular summer resort spots near Athens.

The number of victims appeared set to go even higher, with crews checking charred homes and vehicles and the coast guard scouring beaches and deeper waters. There was no definitive count of the missing.

Meanwhile, in a later story, The Guardian reports:

The number of deaths from the worst forest fires in Greece for more than a decade has risen to 80 as rescue workers intensified efforts to locate those who had gone missing.

Officials said crews were going from house to house and car to car in seaside communities ravaged by the wildfires near Athens on Wednesday.

The death of an 84-year-old, who had been one of an estimated 187 people injured, pushed the count up from 79 officially pronounced dead by the fire service.

At least nine people were in intensive care and 11 children had been taken to hospital, authorities said.

[...] Constantine Michalos, who heads the Athens chamber of commerce and industry, said the dead fires were spread by gale-force winds of up to 77mph and were “changing direction on a minute-by-minute basis”, making rescue operations particularly difficult.

The story also provides a link to a map of the fires.

Also at The Washington Post.


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