A volunteer firefighter has died battling wildfires fanned by gale-force winds in southern Greece.
The 55-year-old man was injured in a blaze within the area of Ilia on the Peloponnese peninsula and later died in hospital.
Fireplace brigade spokesman Vassilios Vathrakogiannis mentioned round 45 wildfires broke out inside hours of one another on Friday.
“All forces are making a superhuman effort to tame them,” he mentioned.
Wildfires are widespread in Greece however authorities have warned of rising dangers because of dry situations, robust winds and temperatures reaching highs of 40C.
At a press briefing, Mr Vathrakogiannis mentioned civil safety forces can be on excessive alert all through the weekend.
“In some instances, wind velocity exceeds 95km/h (59mph), which hinders the strategy by air, and our pilots are expending each doable effort to strategy the fireplace fronts safely,” he mentioned.
A number of villages within the south have been evacuated as a precautionary measure.
Mayor of Pyrgos Stathis Kannis mentioned evacuated residents can be given shelter in hospitality centres.
Based on the newspaper Kathimerini, the nation has been on excessive alert for wildfires since Tuesday.
On Wednesday, a wildfire consumed olive groves within the Moria area on the island of Lesvos.
On the identical day, a water-bombing plane was deployed to place out a wildfire on the outskirts of Athens, and residents dwelling in two settlements on the outskirts of the capital needed to be evacuated.
Final yr, greater than 40 individuals died in Algeria, Italy and Greece and 1000’s have been evacuated as Mediterranean wildfires threatened villages and vacation resorts.
Fires raged on the vacationer hotspots of Corfu and Evia, whereas all the island of Rhodes was put right into a state of emergency.
