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A30 world news
Diahuebs 5 augustus 2021

Greek fires force beach rescue, approach Olympics birthplace

(AP) — Greece evacuated even harder. Our key target is of forest. at the highest level since re- ple with breathing difficulties
people in boats from an to protect human lives.” cords started in 2003. to stay indoors.
island beach Wednesday Temperatures in Greece
amid heavy smoke from Evacuations were taking place reached 45 degrees Celsius Outside Athens, low-fly- It also raged close to a large
a nearby wildfire and fire in Greece’s southern Pelo- (113 Fahrenheit) Wednesday, ing helicopters and planes forested estate and palace that
crews fought elsewhere ponnese region due to a ma- in what authorities described dumped water on charred once belonged to Greece’s
to keep flames away from jor fire near ancient Olympia as the worst heat wave since forests around Tatoi, 20 kilo- royal family and is now a pub-
the birthplace of the an- — where the Olympics were 1987. Neighboring countries meters (12 1/2 miles) north lic park but Greece’s Culture
cient Olympic Games as held every four years from face similar conditions, fuel- of Athens, where more than Ministry said Wednesday the
the country sweltered un- 776 B.C. for more than a mil- ing deadly wildfires in Turkey 500 firefighters had battled Tatoi estate was not harmed.
der a record heat wave. lennium. The adjacent town and blazes in Italy and across through the night to contain
of Ancient Olympia was the Mediterranean region. the blaze that started Tuesday. It said artifacts “of particular
With over 100 wildfires evacuated, with another sev- Officials in Albania said one At least 80 cars were burned. historic and artistic value”
burning in Greece, the Eu- en nearby villages. The area person died of smoke inhala- were removed from storage
ropean Union sent assistance was ravaged by wildfires in tion near the southern city of “The ground crews did vital areas in the estate as a precau-
to it and other southeast Eu- 2007 that cost dozens of lives Gjirokaster, where wildfires work, (fighting) nightmar- tion. Under a major restora-
rope countries grappling with but spared Olympia’s ruined caused hundreds of residents ish fires in suburban for- tion program, thousands of
huge wildfires. The help sports venues and temples. to flee. ests,” Prime Minister Kyria- artifacts from the former pal-
came a day after another ma- kos Mitsotakis said, visiting ace — including ceremonial
jor blaze burned more than The mayor of the nearby An EU disaster response a mobile control center. “We carriages, luxury cars, antiq-
100 homes and businesses town of Pirgos said a strong group said firefighters and had no loss of human life. ... uities, paintings and clothes
near the Greek capital of Ath- firefighting cordon had been water-dropping planes were Homes will be rebuilt and — have been stored for years
ens. placed around the verdant being sent from EU mem- over time the forest will grow on the estate pending conser-
site, one of the most beauti- bers to Italy, Greece, Albania back.” vation and future exhibition.
Civil Protection chief Nikos ful in a country teeming with and North Macedonia.
Hardalias said 118 wildfires antiquities. Firefighters pumped water Sporadic power outages oc-
broke out over the past 24 “Following the situation with from a swimming pool to curred after the flames top-
hours, and warned that even “I think the site’s security is great concern. European soli- douse the flames, and water- pled electricity transmission
worse days could lie ahead at a satisfactory level,” Pan- darity is at work to fight these dropping buckets were at- towers, adding more strains
for the hard-pressed fire ser- agiotis Andonakopoulos said. terrible fires,” EU Commis- tached to military helicopters. to Greece’s overloaded na-
vice. sion President Ursula von Authorities said more than tional power grid at the
The coast guard evacuated der Leyen wrote in a tweet. 100 homes and businesses height of the key summer
“We are making a titanic ef- about 90 people stranded on had been seriously damaged tourist season.
fort on many fronts,” he told a beach near the northern vil- The EU Atmosphere Moni- or destroyed, and more than
an evening briefing. “Accord- lage of Rovies on the island of toring Service said smoke 500 people were put up for The heat wave is forecast to
ing to our threat forecasts, to- Evia. Private boats helped in plumes from the region’s the night in hotels. hover over Greece and Tur-
morrow too is expected to be the operation. Media reports wildfires were clearly visible key until the end of the week.
a difficult day ... The tough- said three firefighters suf- in satellite images, which also The fire sent clouds of
est part lies ahead of us, the fered burns. Several homes showed that the intensity of smoke over the Greek capital,
next days and weeks will be were burnt as well as swaths the wildfires in Turkey was prompting warnings for peo-

Red Cross questions Lithuania on trying to block migrants

(AP) — The Red Cross groups noted that all nations understands the state’s chal- Later Wednesday, the Belaru-
warned Wednesday that have an obligation to protect lenges in protecting its bor- Defense Minister Arvydas sian State Border Committee
Lithuania’s decision to vulnerable people. der. Anusauskas called the report claimed that five Iraqi mi-
turn away immigrants at- “an obvious provocation. grants who were forcibly ex-
tempting to cross in from “Pushbacks of people seeking Lithuania, a nation of less Lithuania is under hybrid at- pelled to Belarus from Lithu-
neighboring Belarus does asylum are not compatible than 3 million people, has tack and spreading such in- ania had injuries, including
not comply with interna- with the Geneva Conven- no physical barriers for its formation is a classic example dog bites, and had been hos-
tional law. tion on Refugee Status, the 679-kilometer (420-mile) of this process.” pitalized.
EU Charter of Fundamen- long border with Belarus.
Lithuania, a member of the tal Rights and other human Some 4,090 migrants, most
European Union, has faced rights instruments” Egle of them from Iraq, have
a surge of mostly Iraqi mi- Samuchovaite, program di- crossed this year from Be-
grants in the past few months. rector for Lithuania’s Red larus into Lithuania.
It says that’s due to retalia- Cross, told The Associated
tion by Belarus’ authoritarian Press. Another 35 people crossed
President Alexander Lukash- into Lithuania illegally on
enko after the EU put sanc- Samuchovaite also pointed Wednesday, according to the
tions on his country over an out that rejecting the admis- State Border Guard Service,
air piracy incident. The Lith- sion of vulnerable people but this was significantly
uanian Interior Ministry this into the country would put lower than the triple-digit
week distributed a video shot them into an unsafe environ- numbers of previous days.
from a helicopter showing ment, trapped between two
large groups of immigrants countries. Belarus claimed Wednesday
being escorted to Lithuania’s that a “non-Slavic” person
border by Belarusian border “In the absence of a physi- died from injuries at a bor-
guard vehicles. cal border barrier with Be- der town but Lithuania dis-
larus, the question arises as missed the report as propa-
On Tuesday, Lithuania said to how to ensure that there ganda from a hostile regime.
it reserved the right to use is no disproportionate use of
force to stop such illegal im- force against asylum seekers, “This is nonsense, a Brothers
migration and turned away which by any means could Grimm fairy tale,” Lithuania
180 people attempting to not be justified,” she said, Interior Minister Agne Bi-
enter the country. But rights adding that the Red Cross lotaite told reporters.