ギリシャ各地で山火事、２０人死亡　アテネ郊外に避難命令

【アレクサンドルポリス（ギリシャ）ＡＦＰ＝時事】ギリシャ各地で山火事が相次いでいる。北部の村では２２日、山火事で亡くなったとされる不法移民とみられる１８人の死体が発見された。別の２か所でもそれぞれ１人の死体が見つかっており、山火事による死者は全国で２０人に達した。（写真はギリシャ・アテネ郊外ハシアの山火事の様子）
　また、首都アテネ郊外の人口２万５０００人超のアノリオシアには同日、避難命令が出された。
　消防署によると、気温が４１度に達する中、強風にあおられ、過去２４時間で６０か所以上で山火事が発生している。欧州連合（ＥＵ）の市民保護制度に基づき、６か国から応援部隊が派遣されるという。
　消防署は国営テレビＥＲＴに「前例のない状況だ。異常気象だ」とし、２２日には短時間のうちに「広範囲に延焼した」と述べた。
　アテネ国立観測所の報告によると、１９～２１日の３日間で４万ヘクタール以上が焼けた。
　トルコ国境近くの北部アレクサンドルポリスでは２２日、山火事で亡くなった不法移民とみられる１８人の遺体が見つかった。警察によると、うち２人は子どもだった。地元住民の行方不明者は報告されていない。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/08/23-17:16）

Thousands of people in an outer district of Greece's capital Athens were under evacuation orders Tuesday as firefighters battled a steadily growing wave of wildfires around the country that has left 20 dead.
Civil protection ordered the evacuation of Ano Liosia in northwest Athens, a district of over 25,000 people while at the neighbouring community of Fyli an AFP journalist saw homes on fire.
Over 60 fires have erupted in the past 24 hours, and six countries were sending help via the European Union's civil protection mechanism, the fire department said, amid a dangerous mix of gale-force winds and temperatures of up to 41 degrees Celsius.
The situation is unprecedented, weather conditions are extreme, fire department spokesman Yiannis Artopios told state TV ERT, adding that the Tuesday fires grew to gigantic size in a short space of time.
The fire is burning the lower slopes of the Mount Parnitha, the largest forest bordering Athens, which has been burned several times.
Another big blaze was still raging at a landfill in the industrial zone of Aspropyrgos, west of Athens, covering the area in a noxious black cloud.
Over 40,000 hectares were destroyed in wildfires the three days from August 19 to 21, according to a report by the National Observatory of Athens.
- Suspected migrants found dead -
Earlier on Tuesday, eighteen suspected migrants were found dead in a forest fire near the Turkish border, north of the city of Alexandroupolis. Two children were among them, a police official said.
As no local residents had been reported missing the possibility that they are people who entered our country illegally is under investigation, fire department spokesman Yiannis Artopios said in a televised address.
The area is a frequent entry point for irregular migrants.
Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou expressed her deep sorrow.
?We must urgently take effective initiatives to ensure that this bleak reality does not become the new normality,? she said in a statement.
The latest deaths pushed the overall toll from this week's fires to 20.
Another suspected migrant was found dead in the area and an elderly shepherd was found dead north of Athens on Monday.
Greece is witnessing an unprecedented scale of wildfire devastation this summer and in such trying times the EU's swift assistance is vital, Janez Lenar?i?, Commissioner for Crisis Management, said in a statement.
- Hospital evacuated -
The lower slopes of Mount Parnitha, the largest forest bordering Athens, was ablaze, having already fallen victim to wildfires several times.
Officials shut down the nearest section of the Athens ring road, and advised residents to stay indoors.
Flames continued to spread unchecked in northeastern Greece as well as the islands of Evia and Kythnos, the region of Boeotia north of Athens, in the Peloponnese and in western Greece.
Late Monday, an evacuation was ordered at the hospital of Alexandroupolis, a northeastern Greek port city located in an area where fires were raging for a fourth day.
The coastguard said it had moved 65 patients to a waiting ferry at the city harbour.
The fire near Alexandroupolis is also threatening the national park of Dadia, home to rare birds of prey.
On the island of Evia, near the capital, officials late Monday evacuated the industrial town of Nea Artaki, where the fire has damaged poultry and pork farms.
The very hot and dry conditions which increase the fire risk will persist until Friday, according to meteorologists.
Amid a heatwave, a fire that started on July 18 and was fanned by strong winds ravaged almost 17,770 hectares (more than 43,000 acres) in 10 days in the south of Rhodes, a popular tourist island in the southeastern Aegean Sea.
Around 20,000 people, mostly tourists, had to be evacuated.