[ad_1]
A huge forest fire in Cyprus has killed four people, destroyed homes and forced evacuations of villages in Greece, Israel and other countries to put out firefighting planes on the Mediterranean island.
The fire started on Saturday and the country has plunged through areas in the southern foothills of the Troodos Mountains with a torrential heat wave.
“It’s a tragedy,” President Nicos Anastasiades said on Twitter, saying it was “the biggest fire since 1974.”
The fire has caused “loss of life” and destroyed property and forest land, Anastasiades said, and “the government will provide immediate assistance to the victims and their relatives.
“We will not leave anyone abandoned when the fire is destroyed.”
Firefighters took control of the main fire Sunday morning, authorities said, warning that it could be encouraged to be revived by the strong winds.
In places where the fire subsided, while tree trunks were seen burning in the cores, gray ash replaced the yellowed shrubs to the extent that the eyes could see in places where there were no forests.
The thick trunks of the ancient olive trees, the long-standing emblems of the holiday island, were reduced to smoking skeletons.
Firefighters were spotted on the road to the village of Vavatsinia, near the city of Larnaca, and several helicopters were flying over the fire as a thick gray smoke darkened the sky.
Janez Lenarcic, the European Commissioner for Crisis Management, said on Saturday that he had mobilized “the power to put out air fires” to help Italy and Greece send aircraft.
Britain, which has a military base in Cyprus, has deployed two search and rescue helicopters and was helping to supply aircraft to Cyprus.
“We stand shoulder to shoulder with the Republic of Cyprus as we work together to overcome this tragedy,” said Rob Thomson, commander of the British Cypriot force.
Cyprus has experienced heat waves and droughts in recent years.
In recent days, temperatures have reached 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) inland and there has been very little rain since mid-April.
[ad_2]
Source link
