Deadly wildfire in Greece: Survivors recount horror

Athens : Family members were helping yesterday to identify the bodies of the 82 people killed in Greece’s worst ever wildfires as anger mounted over how authorities could have let the disaster happen. Firefighters were still dealing with pockets of flames from the unprecedented outbreak around Athens as the government announced a raft of measures to compensate those affected.

An 82nd person was pronounced dead Thursday by a fire service spokeswoman, without specifying whether they were found by rescuers or died in hospital. The fires, which broke out on Monday, struck coastal villages popular with holidaymakers and burned with such ferocity that most people fled to the safety of the sea with just the clothes on their backs.

Survivors spoke of harrowing scenes including entire families burned alive in their homes. An emergency services spokesman said yesterday that a blaze near Kineta, 25 kilometres (15 miles) west of Athens, was largely being managed, though it was still working to extinguish pockets of flames. There was still no official word on the number of people missing after the catastrophe, but the death toll of 82 already makes this Europe’s deadliest fire outbreak this century.