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Prosecutor orders probe into
Greek fires
ELENA BECATOROS
AP
Monday Aug 27, 2007
ATHENS, Greece - A
top prosecutor ordered an investigation Monday into whether this
summer's arson attacks in Greek forests could be considered terrorism,
the Public Order Ministry said.
Meanwhile, a fire broke out on the fringes of Athens a day after
a massive effort prevented the birthplace of the Olympics from
being devastated by flames.
Dimitris Papangelopoulos, who is responsible for prosecuting
terrorism and organized crime, ordered the investigation to determine
"whether the crimes of arsonists and of arson attacks on
forests" could come under Greece's anti-terrorism law, the
ministry said in a statement.
The probe also will seek to establish the identities of the alleged
perpetrators.
Greece has been ravaged by hundreds of massive wildfires since
Friday that have left at least 61 people dead. The country also
suffered fires in June and July, although they were not nearly
on the same scale.
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Government officials have said they suspect at least some of
the blazes have been caused by arson. The government has offered
a reward of up to $1.36 million for anyone providing information
that would lead to the arrest of an arsonist.
"So many fires breaking out simultaneously in so many parts
of the country cannot be a coincidence," Prime Minister Costas
Karamanlis said in a nationally televised address on Saturday.
"The state will do everything it can to find those responsible
and punish them."
Several people have been arrested on suspicion of arson since
Friday, although some were accused of starting fires through negligence
rather than intent. One man, however, was charged with arson and
homicide in connection with a fire near the southern town of Areopolis
on Friday that killed six people.
Forest fires are common during Greece's hot, dry summers —
but nothing has approached the scale of the last three days.
Desperate residents appealed through television stations for
help from a firefighting service already stretched to the limit
and anger mounted, with many blaming authorities for leaving them
defenseless. Scores of people were treated in hospitals for burns
and breathing problems. The government declared a state of emergency
on Saturday.
The front of one fire Sunday reached Ancient Olympia in southern
Greece, burning trees and shrubs just a few yards from the museum
at the site. Firefighters said the flames, fanned by high winds
and swirling air, leaped hundreds of feet in the air at times.
Although the pristine forest around Ancient Olympia was burned,
none of the 2,800-year-old ruins were damaged.
"Firefighters fought a battle in Ancient Olympia, which
was won," Diamandis said. Authorities said at least two firefighters
had been injured in the battle with the flames on Sunday.
Helicopters and aircraft covered the ruins with water and foam.
The flames reached the edge of the ancient stadium, searing the
grass and incinerating the trees on the hill above. Volunteers
grabbed buckets of water and joined firefighters.
"It's hell everywhere," said Costas Ladas, a resident
of Kolyri near Ancient Olympia, who said the fire covered more
than a mile in three minutes. "I've never seen anything like
it."
Across the country, hundreds of people were evacuated from villages,
hotels and resorts. Others took refuge in churches and schools,
while the Health Ministry was sending hundreds of tents to southern
Greece to house those left homeless.
The worst of the fires have been concentrated in the mountains
of the Peloponnese in the south and on the island of Evia north
of Athens. Strong winds blew smoke and ash over the capital, blackening
the evening sky and turning the rising moon red.
"The whole village is burning. It's been burning for three
days," one woman sobbed, clutching her 20-month-old daughter
as they sheltered in a church along with dozens of others near
Figalia in the western Peloponnese.
In the ravaged mountain villages in the Peloponnese, rescue crews
found a grim scene that spoke of last-minute desperation as the
fires closed in. Dozens of charred bodies have been found across
fields, homes, along roads and in cars.
The remains of a mother hugging her four children were found
near the town of Zaharo in the western Peloponnese.
Meanwhile, weekend wildfires also killed two elderly people in
neighboring Bulgaria, officials said Monday. They died in a fire
that burned down their house in the southern village of Prisadets,
said Darina Stamatova, spokeswoman of the regional administration.
An Associated Press photographer on the scene said almost all
houses in the villages of Prisadets, Varnik and Filipovo were
destroyed by the flames.
A blistering hot summer has led to more than a thousand wildfires
across Bulgaria in the past three months burning down 84,000 acres
of forests and farm fields, the government said.
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INFOWARS:
BECAUSE THERE'S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND
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