Dozens of hospital patients were evacuated onto a ferry in the Greek port city of Alexandroupolis early on Tuesday, the fire brigade said, as wildfires in the area raged uncontrolled for the fourth day, killing one person.
Hundreds of firefighters have been struggling to contain the blaze that broke out near Alexandroupolis on Saturday and quickly spread, fanned by gale force winds, sending plumes of smoke above the city and turning the night sky bright red.
"Under extreme weather conditions, mainly due to gale-force winds, a huge effort has been made to manage fire fronts that broke out simultaneously in many parts of the country," fire brigade spokesperson Ioannis Artopios said late on Monday.Several communities in the broader Evros region, near the border with Turkey, have been evacuated as authorities warned the risk of new fires remained high in the coming days.
Evros is a popular border crossing for hundreds of migrants from the Middle East and Asia who use the river by the same name separating Greece from Turkey to cross into the European Union. More than 20,000 foreign tourists had to be evacuated from the holiday island of Rhodes in July as wildfires burned for a week, destroying hotels and resorts.
Singapore Latest News, Singapore Headlines
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