Greece: 18 bodies found in wildfire-struck region

Greek authorities said on Tuesday that 18 burned bodies were found in a remote area in northeastern Greece, where wildfires have been raging for days. 

Fire department spokesman Yiannis Artopios said in a televised address that they were found near the national park of Dadia. The region bordering Turkey is a frequent entry point for migrants, Greek media reported.

What do we know about the fatalities?

Greek police activated the country's Disaster Victim Identification Team, in an effort to identify the discovered bodies. They were found near a shack in the Avanta area, Artopios said.

Since no reports of missing people had been filed in the area, authorities were investigating the possibility that they were "people who entered our country illegally," possibly from the nearby Turkish border, Artopios said.

The discovery pushed the death toll from the latest wildfires to 20. On Monday, another suspected migrant was also found dead, as well as an elderly shepherd who is believed to have suffocated while attempting to save his livestock north of Athens.

Fires continued to spread on Tuesday, detected in northeastern Greece as well as the islands of Evia and Kythnos and the region of Viotia.

Wildfires scorch Greece

Wildfires near Alexandroupolis, close to the Turkish border, have been raging for days.

On Tuesday, eight villages and the city's hospital were evacuated after flames raced through the forest toward the northeastern port city overnight.

Around 65 of over 100 patients had to be ferried to the port town of Kavala, where they were transferred to another hospital. Others were moved to hospitals in northern Greece.

"I've been working for 27 years, I've never seen anything like this," nurse Nikos Gioktsidis at the University Hospital of Alexandroupolis told the Reuters news agency. "Stretchers everywhere, patients here, IV drips there ... it was like a war, like a bomb had exploded."

Emergency services also urged residents of various communities around Alexandroupolis to evacuate, issuing a warning which read: "Forest fires in your area."

Two villages near the city also witnessed damage to a school, several homes and a cemetery.

Fires also continued to rage in the area around the capital, with a new fire breaking out westwards in the Aspropyrgos area. Authorities issued evacuation orders for two villages in the area.

Greece suffers destructive wildfires every summer, but officials say they have been exacerbated by climate change, with many other countries in the region also suffering from more fires blamed on warming temperatures.

rmt, fb/sms (AFP, AP, Reuters)