Cyprus sends planes, pharmaceuticals to fight fires in Greece

Two firefighting aircraft departed Cyprus for Greece on Friday morning with the aim of helping to fight the country’s forest fires.

The Air Tractor-type planes, which belong to the forestry department, took off from Paphos airport at 8am on Friday and, after a fuel stop in Rhodes, are set to land at Tatoi airport near Athens at 1pm.

The move was facilitated by the European Union’s rescEU framework, the bloc’s civil protection mechanism.

Meanwhile, the Lions Club of Northern Greece and Cyprus 117B has been working in collaboration with the Larnaca municipality to provide pharmaceutical drugs for the fire’s victims.

The drugs are being collected at Larnaca’s social welfare and employment centre until 5pm on Friday.

“Today, our fellow humans in Greece are in great need of medicines, everything from gauzes to creams they need for burns, and we are all here to help with this,” said the club’s coordinator Elena Patsiou Manoli.