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The fire in Mati was by far Greece’s worst since flames devastated the southern Peloponnese peninsula in August 2007, killing dozens. It broke out late Monday afternoon and was still burning in some areas on Tuesday morning.
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| Wildfire kills at least 50 near Athens, families flee to beaches |
People scrambled to the sea as the blaze closed in near the shore. Hundreds were rescued by passing boats but the fire moved too fast for others.
“I was briefed by a rescuer that he saw the shocking picture of 26 people tightly huddled in a field some 30 meters from the beach,” Nikos Economopoulos, head of Greece’s Red Cross, told Skai TV.
“They had tried to find an escape route but unfortunately these people and their kids didn’t make it in time,” he said.
A Reuters photographer saw at least four dead on a narrow road clogged with cars heading to a nearby beach and heard reports of several more casualties.
“Residents and visitors in the area did not escape in time even though they were a few meters from the sea or in their homes,” fire brigade spokeswoman Stavroula Maliri said.
Mati is in the eastern Rafina region, a popular spot for Greek holiday-makers, particularly pensioners and children at camps, 29 km (18 miles) east of the capital.
The 26 deaths came on top of the more than 20 reported by government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos earlier on Tuesday.
One of the youngest victims was thought to be a six-month-old baby who died of smoke inhalation, officials said. Of the 156 people injured, 11 were in intensive care, they added.
The coastguard said four more bodies were retrieved from the sea. In total, coastguard and other vessels rescued 696 people who had fled to beaches. Boats plucked another 19 people alive from the water.
