DTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey is fighting the worst forest fires in history. The head of state expressed this in a television interview on Wednesday night. In the forest fire area near the west coast, the fire spread to a coal-fired power station. “The flames have spread to the site of the power plant,” Milas Mayor Mohamed Tokat wrote on Twitter. The power plant has been thoroughly cleaned up.
Environmentalists warned that coal supplies could ignite and release toxic gases. The Demiroren news agency reported that as a precautionary measure, the storage tanks containing flammable liquids at the power plant have been emptied.
Driven by high temperatures and strong dry winds, fires in tourist areas forced thousands of Turks and holidaymakers to leave their homes or hotels. So far, eight people have died. According to government information, the fire broke out more than a week ago, and 16 locations have not been extinguished on Wednesday.
Ancient Greek Olympia is on the brink of extinction
On the island of Evia, north of the Greek capital, Athens, a fire went out of control, destroying several villages and threatening a monastery. Olympia, a famous ancient village on the Peloponnese Peninsula, was also threatened by the new fire.
Many villages in Evia have been affected. The mayor of a nearby town, Argyris Liaskos, said on TV that “at least 150 houses were burned down”. According to local media reports, the three monks refused to leave St. David’s Monastery in the northern part of the island. “The flame is 30 to 40 meters high and has surrounded the monastery,” one of the monks told the Greek news agency ANA by phone. “We were almost suffocated by the smoke.” According to the agency, the monks were rescued safely that night.
