By NEWS WIRES
A Greek water-dropping aircraft crashed on Tuesday into a wildfire, killing the two pilots. Authorities were battling blazes across Greece amid a heatwave.
In recent days, climate-related wildfires have caused at least 34 deaths in Algeria. Two people died on Tuesday in the south of Italy.
The yellow CL-215 released water from its load on Evia before the wingtip reportedly caught a branch of a tree. A fireball then erupted moments later from a deep crack in the ground.
Both pilots aged 34 and 27 died in the crash.
After Prime Minister KyriakosMitsotakis cancelled a scheduled visit to Cyprus Wednesday, the Greek armed forces have declared three days in mourning.
Mitsotakis stated, “They risked life every day extinguishing fires.” In their honor, we continue the fight against nature’s destructive powers.
In Greece on Tuesday, the third heatwave in a row pushed temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius. Winds whipped at fires which had been raging for days.
The cause is still unknown, but summer’s heat and dry conditions allow even the smallest of sparks to start a fire. If not put out quickly, the flames can spread rapidly. In recent weeks, several people were fined or even arrested in Greece for starting fires accidentally.
Climate change, according to EU officials is the cause of the increase in frequency and intensity wildfires on the European continent. Wildfire damages in 2022 were the second worst after 2017.
The Greek Police reported that the body of the sheep farmer, who was missing in southern Evia since Sunday – the day before the fire started there – had been found Tuesday. The cause of his death was not known.
Fire service spokesperson said that the most serious fires occurred on Tuesday on both the south-west island of Rhodes, and on the north-west island of Corfu. Both are popular tourist destinations. Ioannis artopios said that on the other fronts we are dealing with a lot of fires that keep reoccurring.
Four Rhodes villages evacuated as a forest fire that has been burning since eight days moved inland, damaging mountainous forests, and a part of the nature reserve.
Five evacuations on Corfu and one overnight were ordered.
Rhodes residents used shovels as well as wet towels to fight the flames that were approaching their houses. Firefighting helicopters and planes continued to drop water.
We are still fighting forest fires non-stop, despite the extreme heat and high winds. “The Greek Fire Service is fighting more than 500 forest fires every single day,” stated Vassilis Klikilias, minister of climate and civil defense.
Fires forced more than 20,000 tourists to leave the island over the weekend after they swept two areas along the coast in the southeast of Rhodes.
Philip Petrusev of the Philadelphia 76ers, a Serbian basketball player was on Rhodes along with Tiana Sumakovic.
She described the frantic scenes on social media as Sumakovic, Petrusev and others escaped from fire.
Sumakovic said, “The fire was very near and we were forced to flee.” We were choked on smoke, and we ran as fast as possible. “We eventually got to safety.”
The number of Nordic tourists expected in Rhodes this week is likely to increase.
Aftonbladet announced Wednesday that there were two charter flights scheduled from Sweden. Holidaymakers are expected to head for resorts located in the northern, so far unscathed part of Rhodes.
In order to cope with high temperatures in Athens, the authorities reinstated the afternoon closing hours of the ancient Acropolis.
Other countries, such as Turkey, Israel and Egypt, have sent assistance, too, with 500 firefighters, 100 cars and 7 planes.
Other nations, including Italy with its fires and weather extremes, also contributed to this disaster.
Two people were found dead inside a house after a wildfire in Sicily temporarily shut down Palermo International Airport. Around 2,000 tourists evacuated three hotels in Vieste when flames came dangerously close to the homes of their relatives in Puglia further north. In Sicily 55 fires are burning with temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius.
A powerful storm with heavy hail in northern Lombardy, Italy, caused power outages and flooding, which led to the death of a 16 year-old girl who was at a Scout camp.
Wildfires were reported in scattered locations in the south-east of France. One wildfire near Arles, in Provence involved 300 firefighters as well as a helicopter. The authorities have prohibited access to many forested areas in the French Riviera, as well as Corsica.
On Tuesday, wildfires spread through an area of rugged forest near Kemer in the province Antalya, forcing authorities and residents to evacuate 12 homes as well as a hospital.
Another wildfire has destroyed at least 14 houses in western Manisa province.
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