Forest fires out of control: power outages in the greater Athens area

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Fighting the flames in the Athens suburb of Kryoneri

Photo: ORESTIS PANAGIOTOU / EPA

Because of the uncontrolled forest fires in the north of Athens, the power is increasingly failing in the Greek capital.

As a precaution, a distribution node in the affected region was shut down on Thursday.

The state network operator announced on Friday afternoon that it would take individual parts of Athens temporarily and as planned from the network in order to be able to maintain the supply as a whole.

The Greek civil protection minister Nikos Chardalias has meanwhile informed about 56 active fires across the country.

North of Athens, the fire spread towards the municipality of Marathon, the evacuation of another 13 settlements is ongoing.

Chardalias couldn't give the all-clear;

instead, the fire brigade is expecting even stronger winds in the afternoon.

In the region, visibility is currently severely restricted due to smoke development.

Videos in social networks document numerous explosions of burning warehouses and production halls as well as gas cylinders in burning houses.

Major fires at Antalya contained

In Turkey, meanwhile, the emergency services were able to record a success.

According to official information, two major fires in the Antalya holiday region were brought under control on Friday.

According to this, more than 36,000 people from around 12,000 houses have been brought to safety since the fire started about ten days ago.

The destruction is immense.

Eight people were killed, including a German-Turkish couple.

kim / dpa