Greek firefighters have found the charred bodies of at least 26 people, possibly irregular migrants, in the Dadia forest in north-eastern Greece near the Turkish border.
At first, the charred bodies of 18 people were found, and shortly after the rescue teams found another group of eight people dead inside the Dadia National Park.
Giannis Artopoios, a spokesman for the fire department, declared that the bodies were of people who "probably had entered the country irregularly" after crossing the Evros river, which borders Turkey, and died in the fires that broke out in recent hours. The police have activated a victim recognition team and have begun to investigate what happened.
"A control carried out by the firefighters in the area has allowed them to find 18 bodies near a shack. Since no disappearances have been reported since yesterday, the possibility that they have entered the country illegally is being investigated," Artopoios said about the discovery. of the first 18 deceased.
Hours before, another charred corpse was found near that area that has not been identified and is also now suspected to be that of an immigrant in an irregular situation, bringing the number of bodies found today to 27.
Greek authorities fear that the number of people killed in the dense Dadia forest will rise in the coming days, as it is a common transit area for those crossing from Turkey.
Several towns in the area have been evacuated due to the proximity of the flames, fueled by high temperatures, dryness and strong winds. Artopios explained to the press that since yesterday evacuation text messages had been sent to mobile devices in the area, also to cell phones from foreign networks.
In Greece, at least eight large fires are burning in different parts of the country, the most serious being the one that started on Saturday near the Greek port city of Alexandroupolis. Dadia is located north of that port city, from where its main hospital was evacuated this morning due to the proximity of the flames.
Greek media offer images of skies reddened by flames, thick columns of smoke and a shower of ash due to strong winds. A ferry from the port welcomed 90 of the 204 patients at the General Hospital while the rest have been transferred to other hospitals.
According to the state television ERT, some explosions were heard in the hospital compound, probably due to the explosion of oxygen tanks and other devices. The smoke clouds caused by the fire are of such a size that they can be recognized in satellite images and extend for hundreds of kilometers to the south of the country.
