Greek authorities have bolstered their firefighting forces in the northeastern part of the country on Monday, as a massive and deadly wildfire rages on for its tenth consecutive day without showing signs of subsiding.

The wildfire, which has been blazing in the Alexandroupoli and Evros areas near the Turkish border, has been held responsible for 20 out of the 21 wildfire-related fatalities recorded in Greece last week.

According to the fire department, a contingent of 474 firefighters, supported by 100 vehicles, seven aircraft, and two helicopters, are relentlessly battling the inferno. This collaborative effort involves reinforcements from several European nations.

The origin of the fire is under investigation. Over the past week, it has devastated extensive tracts of woodland, consumed residential properties, and necessitated the evacuation of numerous individuals.

The remains of 18 individuals were discovered in a vicinity near the city of Alexandroupoli last Tuesday, while one body had been found within a forested area in the region the preceding day, and an additional body was recovered on Thursday.

These casualties are believed to be migrants who recently crossed the nearby border with Turkey. Greece’s Disaster Victim Identification Unit has been activated to ascertain their identities.

In a separate incident, a man lost his life last week in a distinct fire in central Greece, reportedly while attempting to rescue his livestock from the encroaching flames.

According to the European Union’s Copernicus Emergency Management Service, the wildfire has ravaged more than 77,000 hectares (190,000 acres) of land, marking it as one of the largest individual fires to have ever impacted a European nation.

Copernicus, an element of the EU’s space program focused on Earth observation, employs satellite imagery to furnish mapping data.

While still not officially declared under control, the situation at another substantial fire that has been blazing on Mount Parnitha, located on the northwestern outskirts of Athens for several days, seems to have improved considerably by Monday.

As per the fire department’s report, a contingent of 260 firefighters, accompanied by 77 vehicles, one aircraft, and one helicopter, continue to combat sporadic flare-ups within the fire zone. This fire had engulfed residences and infiltrated a national park, one of the last green expanses near the Greek capital.

Source: Ekathimerini

Four former officers of the Hellenic Railways Organisation (OSE) will stand trial for the Tempi rail disaster earlier this year on February 28, and are expected to testify on September 5.

The high-speed passenger train with more than 350 people on board crashed head-on with a freight train near the city of Larissa in February. A total of 57 people were killed and 85 were injured.

The investigating prosecutor of the Larissa court of appeals decided on Monday the four officials, which include two former presidents and CEOs, a former CEO, and an executive member of the board of OSE, will stand trial regarding the collision.

Charges relate to disrupting transportation security (a crime), manslaughter, serious bodily harm, light bodily harm from recklessness and repetitively (all misdemeanours), reported amna.gr.

Source: Greek PM promises to turn public outcry into action after deadly train crash

Five people, including four children, died and dozens were rescued Monday in two separate incidents involving migrant boats heading to Greek islands from nearby Turkish shores, Greek authorities said.

The coast guard said four people died and 18 were rescued after a boat carrying migrants apparently sank northeast of the Greek island of Lesvos, which is near the Turkish coast. Government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis said all four were children: an 8-year-old boy and three girls aged 14, 8 and 11 months.

Coast guard spokesperson Nikos Alexiou said the incident occurred within Turkish territorial waters but the Turkish coast guard did not conduct a rescue operation, so a Greek patrol boat recovered the passengers. The survivors were taken to Lesvos’ main port of Mytilene, where two people were transferred to a local hospital.

Earlier Monday at about 1 a.m., a coast guard patrol boat spotted a dinghy carrying 37 people off the eastern Aegean island of Samos, the coast guard said. It said the passengers fell into the water upon seeing the patrol boat, triggering a rescue operation.

A woman and a young boy were pulled from the water unconscious and coast guard officers performed CPR, authorities said. The woman died but the boy survived and was transferred to a hospital on Samos along with nine other survivors, the coast guard said.

“We express our deepest sadness” for the five deaths, Marinakis said at a regular briefing. He praised the coast guard for “superhuman efforts” to rescue lives at sea. “It is imperative that the dismal smuggling networks that exploit vulnerable people are struck at their roots,” he said.

Over the weekend, the coast guard said it picked up dozens of people from boats near eastern Aegean Sea islands, part of an increase in new arrivals over the past two months.

It said it recovered 20 people from a dinghy off the coast of Lesvos on Sunday, and 11 others from another dinghy that was sinking near the same island on Saturday.

Two other boats arrived on Samos on Saturday, the coast guard said, one carrying 35 people and one with 21 people.

Source: AP News