Eight European countries are participating in collective efforts to help Greece to bring the deadly forest fires under control, by providing resources in the form of aircraft, firefighters and vehicles, the European Commission announced at midday on Wednesday 25 July, as searches were continuing to rescue people trapped in houses or burnt-out cars.
The Greek and Cypriot firefighters are “the true heroes of this collective European effort”, said the European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Christos Stylianides, on Twitter on Wednesday evening. Arriving Athens the day before, he met the Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, and the leader of the opposition, Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Italy and Romania have sent four Canadair aircraft and firefighters from Cyprus got to work on Tuesday, the Commission reported. Spain, Bulgaria, Croatia, Portugal, Malta, plus Montenegro, are also participating in the solidarity effort via the EU civil protection mechanism.
As a sign of solidarity with the national mourning in Greece, the European Commission has lowered its flags to half-mast for two days. On Wednesday, the extremely heavy death toll of this tragedy was approaching 80. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)