Cypriot firefighting team arrives in Greece as wildfires rage (Updated)

A Cypriot mission arrived in Greece on Friday to aid in firefighting efforts in the mount Parnitha area near Athens, as Greece burned for a seventh day. The flames have been described as the largest recorded wildfire on European soil in years by the EU-backed Copernicus Climate Change Service.

The blaze has killed 19 migrants who were charred “beyond recognition” in one part of the forest close to Turkey. More are feared to be dead. Tens of thousands of hectares of land have been destroyed in the northeast alone.

“Greece is going through the most difficult year, in terms of climatic conditions, in the history of recording and collecting meteorological data,” government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis told a regular briefing.

Fire crews were battling 517 wildfires that had broken out across Greece since last Friday, he said, fuelled by high temperatures and in some cases gale force winds.

While summer wildfires are common in Greece, the government says conditions, which scientists link to climate change have made them more intense this year.

“It is the combination of high temperatures, drought and winds that unfortunately create the ideal conditions for wildfires with extreme behaviour,” Marinakis said.

“It is a very difficult summer.”

Cyprus has sent a 31-person mission comprised by 13 members of the fire service, 13 from Civil Defence, and a five-member HART Special Situations Response Team of the Ambulance Directorate of the state health services organisation.

Fire services spokesman Andreas Kettis said the team was at the Latomia Frangou site in Parnitha, helping a team from Athens and Crete. Slovakian firefighters were also with ground equipment at the scene, while “plenty” of aircraft was at the scene, Kettis added.

t the mission will be staying at the police officer’s academy in the Acharnon municipality.

“The embassy of Cyprus in Greece has already been in contact with the mission for possible support during their stay,” Kettis said.

Earlier, fire chief Nikos Logginos and the head of the ambulance service wished the aid unit well in a post on social media.

“We wish them to be safe and that their support to our colleagues in Greece who have been fighting for days to put out the fire fronts is as constructive as possible.”

The mission was made possible after the coordinated efforts of the state services and Justice Minister Anna Procopiou.

In a post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, Copernicus said the wildfire in northeastern Greece that began on Saturday near the city of Alexandroupolis in northeastern Greece was “the largest recorded on European soil in years,” burning a total of 72,344 hectares so far.

The fire was still burning on Friday.

Hundreds of people have had to flee their homes to escape the fires, and hospital patients were briefly evacuated onto a ferry earlier this week.

Police have arrested three people so far on suspicion of arson.

Authorities announced on Friday that a charred body believed to be a migrant was found in a forested area in the northeastern Evros region, bringing the total number of those killed in the latest fire outbreak of the summer to 21.

All but one are presumed to be migrants, and 18 of those were found together, burned beyond recognition, near the village of Avantas on Tuesday.

A wildfire that broke out on Tuesday outside Athens had abated by Friday, after destroying homes and a car in the area and forcing people to flee, often on foot.