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Tourists are missing and feared dead after forest fires swept through holiday resorts near Athens, killing at least 74 people and forcing more into the sea. Several other wildfires are raging elsewhere in the Northern Hemisphere as sweltering heatwaves break records.

Reports yesterday said 26 bodies had been found near the Greek beach resort of Mati, 15km east of Athens. A similar number of corpses had been discovered earlier and the fires were still raging yesterday afternoon (Australian time) though fires near Athens were brought under control last night. At least 74 people have died and approaching 200 people, including at least 23 children, have been injured.

Some of the fires are suspected of having been deliberately lit. Greece has declared three days of national mourning.

The fire in Mati sent residents and tourists scrambling into the sea to escape the inferno, Britain’s Daily Telegraph reported.  Authorities have declared a state of emergency in the western and eastern parts of the Attica region, which includes Athens.https://www.travelcounsellors.com.au/au/leisure

Mati is in the Rafina region, very popular with tourists. Ten tourists, including at least four from Denmark, fled the flames on a boat and were still missing last night.

A relatively dry winter, followed by the current heatwave, has created tinderbox conditions in Greece and elsewhere. The hottest month in Greece is not July but August.

Firefighters were reported last night to be flying into Greece from other parts of the European Union.

At 10pm last night, Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) advised Australian travellers: “Local Authorities advise the fires are now under control. Monitor the local media and follow the advice of Greek authorities in affected areas.”

An aerial view of the many fires, posted on Twitter, can be viewed below:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1021571278979981312

In Sweden meanwhile an unprecedented drought and the hottest temperatures in a century have produced dangerous fire conditions. The civil protection agency MSB said yesterday 27 active forest fires across were burning across the country.

“The risk is extreme” in the southern part of Sweden, where temperatures were expected to reach 35C in coming days, with no rain likely, MSB head of operations Britta Ramberg told a news conference. An area of 15,000 hectares is reported to be still alight.

Fires have broken out in Norway, where extreme May temperatures already broke local records. A firefighter was killed last week while battling to contain a blaze. July is the warmest month in Norway and in other Northern European countries.

Fires have ravaged woods and grassland close to the Russian border in Lapland, the northernmost province of Finland.

In Latvia, fires have blazed for five days, destroying more than 800 hectares in the country’s west.

In Japan, that country’s weather agency has declared an unprecedented heatwave sweeping the country a natural disaster, with at least 65 deaths recorded in the past week.

On the US West Coast, a record heatwave has sparked scrub fires across Southern California, destroying homes and forcing thousands to evacuate from Santa Barbara to San Diego county.

California’s Ferguson fire has killed one firefighter and is reported to be threatening to spread into Yosemite National Park – while a series of other blazes to the north are also raging, sparked by lightning. Wildfires are burning through forests in southern Oregon as well. August is the warmest month in California.

Written by Peter Needham