The Greek fire department reports that 18 bodies have been discovered in a region of northern Greece that has been ravaged by wildfires over the previous days. According to preliminary accounts, the deceased may have been migrants.
It has been reported that a coroner and investigative team are on their way to the Dadia woodland.
Victims May Be Migrants
According to BBC, the fire department discovered the 18 victims on Tuesday, August 22, at a cottage outside the town of Avantas while searching the ruins of another structure.
Yiannis Artopios, a spokesperson for the Greek fire department, stated that because no local citizens were reported missing, it was possible that the victims had entered the country illegally.
Many refugees from Syria and other Asian countries have used the Evros River to get from Turkey into the European Union. The Dadia woodland is well-known as a popular passageway for migrants.
In other parts of Greece, fires are being fanned by strong winds and temperatures that are expected to reach 39 degrees Celsius (102 degrees Fahrenheit) on Tuesday.
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Outbreak of New Fires
Devastating flames have swept across the Evros area of northeastern Greece, not far from the border with Turkey, as reported by ABC News.
In the city of Alexandroupolis, a local hospital was forced to evacuate its patients. Patients of all ages, from newborns to those in critical care, were transferred to a boat docked at the port and transported overnight.
A previous fatality also thought to be a migrant, was reported in a community near the seaside city, prompting emergency services to send mobile text messages urging residents to flee the area.
The fire department's official highlighted that all nearby cell towers, even those belonging to international networks, had received the urgent alert.
It is believed that flames have been swiftly spreading across the Dadia national park, a big woodland region to the north of Alexandroupolis, since Monday, August 21.
Many communities in Boeotia, central Greece, and the island of Evia have been forced to flee. Reports indicate that dozens of nuns were trapped when a fire broke out at a convent to the northwest of Athens.
Eight surrounding villages' inhabitants were warned to evacuate to the city overnight, ABC News reported. As the day progressed on Tuesday, a steady flow of automobiles headed into the city, leaving behind the charred greenery of the shore.
It was seen that flames were invading the grounds of the university hospital while the effort to evacuate the facility on the northeastern outskirts of the city got underway. Some 115 patients were evacuated by a convoy of ambulances and buses at the behest of Greek authorities.
Several warehouses west of the capital city caught fire in an industrial region in Aspropyrgos, and the air along the Attica Highway became thick with noxious smoke.
