Greece wildfires death toll hits 80

The number of deaths from the worst forest fires in Greece for more than a decade has risen to 80 as rescue workers intensified efforts to locate those who had gone missing. Officials said crews were going from house to house and car to car in seaside communities ravaged by the wildfires near Athens on […]

The number of deaths from the worst forest fires in Greece for more than a decade has risen to 80 as rescue workers intensified efforts to locate those who had gone missing.

Officials said crews were going from house to house and car to car in seaside communities ravaged by the wildfires near Athens on Wednesday.

The death of an 84-year-old, who had been one of an estimated 187 people injured, pushed the count up from 79 officially pronounced dead by the fire service.

At least nine people were in intensive care and 11 children had been taken to hospital, authorities said.

Meanwhile, emergency services reported being inundated with calls about missing people. Although no official number has been released, Ilias Psinakis, the mayor of Marathon, said there was no doubt the number of victims would rise.

“Unfortunately, the number is increasing,” he told Ant1 TV. “I think they found another five today – 40 people [in all] were missing by 5 o’clock this morning when I left the town hall.”

At least two-thirds of the houses in the Marathon district had been burned, he said. “Of the 1,900 houses in Mati and the 1,100 in Neo Voutzas, two-thirds must have burned,” Psinakis said. “They are houses that are no longer inhabitable.”