You can now see the flames from the center of Athens. Dry ground and winds are causing the fires to spread quickly and 10,000 people have been evacuated from the suburbs of Athens.
– You try to put it out as best you can. But in the last 24 hours, 93 new fires have started in Greece, says Ulrika Walmark, freelance reporter in Athens, to TV4.
Tens, perhaps hundreds, of fires are raging in Greece. For example, outside the capital Athens and in eastern Greece near the border with Turkey. In Athens, tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from the suburbs.
– The situation is incredibly serious. They have been trying to put out the fires all night but the fire is still not under control. People have had to be evacuated, including nursing homes and a monastery, says Ulrika Walmark, freelance reporter on the ground in Athens.
Deaths in Eastern Greece
On Tuesday, 18 people were found dead near the village of Avantas in northeastern Greece after the forest fires that have been raging in the area for a few days.
The dead are believed to be migrants who made it to Greece from Turkey. A total of 20 people have lost their lives in the fires this week.
Received help from the EU and Sweden
Strong winds combined with temperatures above 40 degrees contribute to the spread of the fires.
Greece has been helped by 120 firefighters and a number of firefighting planes from several EU countries. Among other things, two water scooping planes took off on Tuesday morning from Skavsta Airport to Greece to help.