Türkiye ha closed the dardanelles straitthe only access for ships to the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea due to the advance of the fires, while Greece continues to fight against the advance of the flames in several points in the north of the country, where the authorities found yesterday 27 bodies charred of migrants and asylum seekers.
In Turkey, the Ministry of Transport announced the closure of the strait on Tuesday night due to the advance of the fires in Çannakale provincein the west of the country. The authorities indicated that the closure of the canal, through which more than a hundred boats and ships pass every day, is for security reasons due to the smoke released by the fires, but also to facilitate the work of airplanes that collect water to put out the spotlights in the area. The fire, which started on Tuesday morning, is advancing uncontrollably through the gusts of wind of up to 70 kilometers per hour and has already burned more than 1,500 hectares.
For now, 1,200 people and hundreds of animals have been evacuated of nine affected localities. The authorities have recommended that the surrounding population pay attention to the notices posted on television in case there is a change in the direction of the wind and the fire advances in other areas. At least 48 people have been treated in hospitals from the region due to smoke intoxication, although the health minister, Fahrettin Koca, rules out that there are serious injuries. Another thirty sick and patients in intensive care units have been evacuated from the Çannakale state hospital as a precaution. The emergency services have deployed 26 helicopters, eight planes and 300 construction machines to try to stop the spread of the flames.
In Greece Fire continues out of control Euros, border region with Turkey, where more than 15 outbreaks have merged into two large fires. Immigration Minister Dimitris Kairos confirmed last night that the 27 charred bodies who appeared near the Dadia forest are either migrants or asylum seekers. He pointed out that all the deceased were male and among them were two children. The region affected by the fires is part of one of the routes of migrants and asylum seekers who cross overland from Turkey to Greece. “They were all found in groups of two or three at a distance of five hundred meters, apparently while they were trying to escape,” Pavlos Pavlidi, the forensic examiner who examined the bodies, told the Greek press. The Greek authorities have not yet confirmed the appearance of another eight bodies during the day on Tuesday. For his part, the Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Vassilis Kikilia, expressed his condolences for the death of the migrants for “not fleeing the area despite evacuation notices.” Regarding the fires, Kikilia pointed out that they are in an “unprecedented” situation and that it is “the worst summer in history.” Following the fire in Evros, Supreme Court prosecutor Georgia Adeilini asked the Alexandroupolis prosecutor’s office to investigate evidence of possible arson in the region, while also requesting an investigation into violence against immigrants, according to the Greek daily Kathimerini.
On the other hand, another large fire is out of control in the region of parned in the north of Athens. The emergency services tried this Wednesday morning to prevent the flames from reaching the national park located on Mount Parnés, but the authorities announced mid-morning that the fire had spread in the area. In the same region, two people have been arrested today for negligence after having burned dry herbs in the middle of the fire emergency. Yesterday four other people were arrested in the same region. The flames are also advancing in the region of the Peloponnese, where 700 people were evacuated this morning in the city of Amigdaleza. Greece suffered serious fires during the month of July, when the flames on the island of Rhodes forced the authorities to evacuate more than 20,000 tourists.