Thousands of people have been evacuated from towns and villages across Greece after wildfires ravaged the country.
Videos of roaring fires and towering black smoke have circulated online from Rhodes and Corfu. However, wildfires have erupted across several areas including Evia and the Peloponnese region.
Firefighters battled against 82 wildfires across the country overnight, forcing the “biggest evacuation” in the country’s history.
A satellite image shows the area affected by wildfires in Rhodes— (Reuters)
Sixty-four of the fires started on Sunday, the hottest day of the summer so far as temperatures peaked at 46.4C in the southern Greek town, Gytheio.
The most serious fire in the country was on the island of Rhodes, where some 19,000 people had been evacuated from several locations as wildfires burned for a sixth day, Greek authorities said.
Local police said 16,000 people were evacuated by land and 3,000 by sea from 12 villages and several hotels.
Six people were briefly treated at a hospital for respiratory problems.
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A person who fell and broke a leg during a hotel evacuation and a pregnant woman remained in hospital, the latter in good condition, authorities said.
Map below shows areas in Rhodes affected by raging wildfires:
In Corfu, approximately 2,466 individuals were evacuated overnight, Yannis Artopios, a spokesperson for the fire department said.
Videos on social media show flames engulfing Corfu as smoke and orange haze covered the night skies. The fire broke out on the northern part of the island which is popular with British tourists.
Those in Santa, Megoula, Porta, Palia Perithia and Sinies were told to evacuate to Kasiopi due to fires in Corfu.
Map below shows scale of devastating wildfires in several regions of Greece:
The Greek Coast Guard said around 59 people were evacuated from Nissaki beach on the northwest coast of the island.
However, the region’s deputy mayor said the fires in Corfu were caused by arson.
Before and after pictures - the first taken in January and the second on Sunday - show the damage caused by the wildfires— (Maxar/Reuters)
Chariton Koutscouris told the BBC that it was down to a “group of people” who “get pleasure out of this with the pain of the other people”.
Giorgos Mahimaris, the mayor of North Corfu, also said that arson was behind the fires.
A fire burning on the Pantokratoras mountain on Corfu island, Greece— (EPA)
Tourists are sheltered in a stadium after being evacuated following a wildfire on the island of Rhodes— (via REUTERS)
Of the 64 wildfires that broke out elsewhere in the country on Sunday, the most serious was on Evia, Greece’s second-largest island, where authorities told residents of four southern villages to evacuate to the town of Karystos, west of where the fire was advancing.
Central Greece vice governor Giorgos Kelaiditis, who was near one of the villages, told state agency ANA-MPA the situation is difficult.
“The fire may be two kilometres (1.25 miles) away, but the wind is strong, the growth is low, the smoke thick and the air is hard to breathe,” he said.
