Athina - Brussels: Europe and the Arabs - Agencies
Forest fires continued in Greece for the fifth day in a row, and it is expected within the next few hours that the European Union institutions in Brussels will announce the activation of crisis management to assist member states to confront the matter. Neighboring countries of Greece did not wait to provide the required assistance. For its part, the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs did its Crisis Management Unit to facilitate the evacuation of foreign citizens in light of the continuing devastating forest fires that have been going on for five days, which have reached tourist areas.
The English-language "France 24" network reported today, Sunday, that the authorities evacuated more than 30,000 citizens and tourists from the tourist island of "Rhodes", while another 1,200 people are expected to be evacuated from three villages on the island.
And the network added that the wind direction changed dramatically this morning, causing the fires to spread more over a range of several kilometers, pointing out that the fires caused a number of roads to be cut off, which slowed the pace of evacuations.
The authorities transferred large numbers of citizens and tourists to schools, hotels, gyms and conference centers on the island, while the firefighting forces are still continuing to fight the fire.
The governor of the South Aegean region, George Hadzimarkos, said that the evacuation process, which was still under way, had been hampered by the fires that had blocked some roads. "The aim is to protect lives," he said.
The tourists and some residents were taken to the gyms, schools and conference centers of hotels in Rhodes, where they will spend the night while firefighters battle the blaze.
The Athens News Agency reported that 3 passenger ferries docked at the port of Rhodes to accommodate some of the evacuees.
Rhodes municipality official Tyris Hatzioannou said dozens of buses had been used by the coast guard, armed forces and local staff to help ferry people away from the fires.
In the evacuation by boat from the beach, the Coast Guard said that 3 of their boats drove more than 30 private boats to transport people from the beaches of Kiotari and Lardos in the east of the island of Rhodes in the Mediterranean Sea, and the Coast Guard said that a Greek navy ship went to the area to help.
The firefighting teams, which received reinforcements from Slovakia, are struggling in the face of new foci of a forest fire that has been burning for 5 days and was fueled by strong winds, while water-dropping planes are participating in efforts to extinguish the fire.
Footage shown on Greek television showed long lines of tourists dragging their belongings as they walked along a road as part of the evacuation process, and smoke was seen rising in the background.
The fire has destroyed vast areas of forests since it broke out in a mountainous area last Tuesday, and civil protection authorities warned of the danger of forest fires breaking out in Rhodes Island and other regions in Greece today, Sunday, amid expectations of temperatures reaching 45 degrees Celsius.
Meteorologists said that the rise in temperatures is expected to continue until the end of July