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  • 2 years ago
A wildfire still raging in northeastern Greece after 11 days is the biggest the European Union has ever recorded and has so far claimed 20 lives with no sign of the blaze abating
Transcript
00:00 A massive wildfire was still burning intensively in northeastern Greece for the 11th day on
00:06 Tuesday despite the efforts of hundreds of firefighters to control it.
00:11 The blaze has swept through vast tracts of land in the Alexandropolis and Evros region,
00:16 with the epicenter deep in a forest near the border with Turkey in an area difficult to
00:20 access.
00:21 The intensity and spread of the fire has prompted a coordinated response from the European Union.
00:28 The commission at this moment is coordinating relief efforts on various fronts via the EU
00:33 civil protection mechanism across Europe.
00:36 So most notably in Greece's Alexandropolis region, we are facing the largest wildfire
00:41 ever recorded in the EU.
00:44 In this context, we have mobilized 12 aircraft from our rescue fleet together with over 500
00:51 firefighters and 60 vehicles.
00:55 In Athens, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis chaired a government meeting on how to rehabilitate
01:00 the burnt forest in Evros and Panitha.
01:02 There have been 21 wildfire-related deaths in Greece over the past week, the highest
01:07 figure registered in the EU since records began in 2000.
01:11 (thunder rumbling)
01:14 (whooshing)
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