Greece. File photoATHENA, Jul 23 Two severe forest fires rage in Greece — in the north-east of the country, the Dadia-Lefkimi-Suflion national park in the Evros region is on fire and the island of Lesbos in the Aegean Sea is on fire, where tourists had to be evacuated and local residents. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis arrived on Saturday evening at the unified coordination center for operations and crisis management of the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, the Prime Minister's press office said.
The wreckage of the Ukrainian plane that crashed in Greece will be removed within a month On Sunday, a government team led by the Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Christos Stylianidis will visit the Dadia area to assess the situation due to the large fire and to improve coordination with local authorities. The group includes Deputy Minister of Environment and Energy Yorgos Amiras, Secretary General of Civil Protection Vassilis Papageorgiou, employees of two ministries and fire protection. Dadia-Lefkimi-Suflion National Park is one of the specially protected areas at the national and European levels. Many species of flora and fauna of the Balkan Peninsula, Europe and Asia live here, protected species of birds of prey such as black vulture, griffon vulture and vulture nest, there is the only colony of black vultures in the Balkans. The fire in the national park began on Thursday afternoon, now the main efforts of firefighters are concentrated on extinguishing it, the representative of the fire service said. The fire is extinguished by 320 firefighters with 13 foot groups and 68 vehicles, employees of the Evros forest service, and a large number of volunteer firefighters. During the day, six planes and nine helicopters took part in the extinguishing. All fire services in the region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace have been put on general alert since Friday. The forest fire is currently continuing on the island of Lesvos. The fire started at 10:00 on Saturday and spread very quickly due to strong winds. The fire approached the village of Vatera in the southwest of the island, where sandy beaches are located — a popular vacation spot for tourists and local residents. At 11:00, an evacuation of people from the area was announced. Nine people were cut off by fire on the coast of Vatera, they were taken out by coast guard boats. «These are four foreigners and five Greeks stuck on the shore and surrounded by fire. All of them were taken to the port of Plomari, and one of the rescued was taken as a precaution to the Plomari Medical Center,» ERT public television reported. at least two houses burned down and many houses and businesses were damaged. According to the fire service, there were 53 forest fires during the day. Severe fires are also now occurring in the Akritochori region near the town of Pylos in Messinia in the Peloponnese, in the Tsakatura region in Grevena (Northern Greece), and in the Vrysoula region in Preveza (Western Greece).
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