Scores Arrested in Greece as Fires Claim Dozens of Lives
by John Little on 27/08/2007Many believe that land developers are behind the fires but that doesn’t seem like a logical explanation for more than thirty fires breaking out within such a short timeframe:
Forest fires raged out of control in Greece for a fourth day, killing at least 63 people and scorching the grounds of Olympia, the site of the ancient Olympic games.
Authorities detained 32 people on suspicion of setting fires deliberately or through negligence and offered rewards of up to 1 million euros ($1.37 million) for information leading to arsonists. European Union nations were among those providing fire-fighting planes as heat and strong winds contributed to the spread of about 250 blazes across Greece since Aug. 24, the deadliest in the country’s recent history.
“We have every reason to believe it won’t stop here,” Health Ministry official Panos Efstathiou said yesterday in a phone interview. The ministry said today that the latest casualties include about 60 injured people who were hospitalized. Hundreds of homes were destroyed, the fire service said.
Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis mobilized the army to battle the flames after declaring a state of emergency that allows the government to requisition private property and labor. Karamanlis, who faces an election on Sept. 16, called on citizens to assist firefighters.
“This is an indescribable national tragedy, and my pain and my anger are as deep as yours,” he said on Aug. 25.
Flames trapped people who tried to flee in their cars, save their homes and crops or rescue others. Several villages in central and southern Greece were evacuated.
“Many people were surprised, panicked or refused to leave their homes,” fire service spokesman Nikolaos Diamantis said yesterday at a televised news conference.
There are some hints that motives beyond mere greed may be behind these fires:
Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis declared a national state of emergency on Saturday. “Our country is experiencing an indescribable tragedy,” he said in a televised address.
Karamanlis made it clear that his government believes the unusually high number of fires was evidence of plans by arsonists to create mayhem.
…However, Public Order Minister Vyron Polydoras backed Karamanlis’s claim. The minister said last night that Greece faced an “asymmetrical threat.”
He did not expand on what he meant by this but echoed the prime minister’s thoughts that the evidence pointed to a concerted effort by arsonists, without suggesting what might be their motives.
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