Holiday villas reduced to ashes in Cyprus wildfires

Telegraph

6 days ago

Holiday villas have been reduced to ashes and two people have died in a Cyprus wildfire fanned by strong winds and scorching temperatures.
The bodies of two people were found in a burnt car as the flames destroyed several homes and forced the evacuation of a dozen villages near Limassol on the southern side of the Mediterranean holiday island on Wednesday.
Temperatures on the island are forecast to reach 44C. By Thursday, the flames had scorched 100 square kilometres (38.6 square miles) of forested hillsides popular with tourists.
More than 250 firefighters and 75 vehicles were deployed to battle the blaze. The government has requested that neighbouring countries send aircraft to support the effort.
Police initially reported late Wednesday that Civil Defence personnel found the charred body of a single individual inside the vehicle on a main road connecting fire-hit hillside villages.
A second body was discovered early Thursday morning. Police said they are still working to identify the victims.
Health authorities also said two people were admitted to hospital with severe burns, while another 16 were treated for other injuries.
The blaze started in the village of Malia in the hills above the city of Limassol.
Andreas Kettis, a spokesman for the fire service, said that there were 'no active fronts' in the fire, but intense 'flare-ups' continued in the area.
Late on Wednesday, flames could be seen consuming trees, brush and other vegetation along a huge front burning bright orange against the backdrop of a nighttime sky.
Marios Hartsiotis, the justice minister, told public broadcaster CyBC that Jordan had two firefighting aircraft on stand-by while two more were expected to come from Spain.
He said 106 people were forced to spend the night in temporary accommodation after several villages were evacuated.
Scores of homes have been damaged or destroyed by the fire, with 16 communities left without electricity for air-conditioning or refrigeration in the searing heat.
'When I entered my house, I saw the mountain and the valley full of flames,' said Antonis Christou, a resident of Kandou, one of the villages affected by the fire.
'I cried, really I cried, because people got burnt ... burnt while in the car.'
Police on Thursday continued to block road access to the fire-afflicted communities as area residents vented against what they called a disorganised response to the huge fire.
Nikos Logginos, chief of the fire service, told CyBC that he had passed on witness testimony to the police, which suggested that the blaze might have been started deliberately.
Cyprus is hit by wildfires almost every year during the island's hot, dry summers. A 2021 wildfire in the Larnaca district killed four Egyptian farmworkers.