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Fire in Afidnes near Athens: "forest fires of enormous proportions"
Photo: Thanassis Stavrakis / AP
In Greece, hit by devastating forest fires, the situation is getting worse.
Strong westerly winds have continued to fan the numerous fires since the early hours of the morning.
To the north of Athens, people in several localities were called to leave the region.
Security guards went from house to house so that nobody is forgotten.
Within 24 hours there were 86 new forest fires nationwide, as the Greek fire brigade tweeted in the morning - the previous evening there had been 54 nationwide.
Even tens of kilometers away from the fires, huge clouds of yellow smoke can be seen in the sky, it smells burned, ashes are raining down from the sky.
“We have dozens of forest fires to fight.
Three of them - in Athens, on the Peloponnese and on Euboea - are enormous, "said Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on state television on Thursday evening.
On Evia, the inhabitants of the village of Agia Anna in the northeast of the island had to be brought to safety by boat across the sea.
There is also a fire in the northwest, where numerous villages have also been evacuated.
Mitsotakis warned of an "unprecedented state of affairs, because the past days of heat and drought have turned the country into a powder keg."
Visiting forests is prohibited until at least Monday, as is work that could generate sparks or flames.
In the morning it was only a matter of preventing the fire from spreading, reported the Greek news agency ANA.
In view of the strong winds, there could be no question of controlling the flames for the time being.
In Turkey, too, the forces continue to fight the flames.
According to official information, 13 fires in six provinces were not yet under control on Thursday evening.
The holiday regions of Antalya, Marmaris and Bodrum are particularly affected, where the emergency services have not been able to get the fires under control for days.
Instead of urgently needed rain, there will be extreme heat in the coming days: In Bodrum and Milas in the Mugla province, more than 40 degrees are expected on Friday.
Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, who has his constituency in Antalya, made some hope on Thursday evening: The wind will decrease in Antalya on Friday and it is hoped that the fires there will be brought under control.
Thousands of people have already had to leave their homes and some have been placed in schools and sports stadiums.
The fire has already devastated large areas.
Eight people were killed, and it is estimated that at least 100,000 hectares of forest and fields fell victim to the flames.
These are the worst forest fires in Turkey for more than 13 years.
mxw / dpa
