Description
Added on the 25/07/2016 20:25:37 - Copyright : Reuters EN
Firefighters scramble to contain a raging inferno northwest of Athens as Greece's emergency services continue to battle a steadily growing wave of wildfires around the country that has left 20 dead. Civil protection ordered the evacuation of Ano Liosia in northwest Athens, a district of over 25,000 people, with people from the neighbouring town of Fyli rushing to flee the advancing flames. IMAGES
Images show wildfire approaching Gennadi, a village on the Greek island of Rhodes. Wildfires continue to rage across the Mediterranean island for the eighth day in a row, as Greece battles with extreme temperatures and blazes across the country. Tens of thousands of people have already fled the island, with many frightened tourists scrambling to get home on evacuation flights IMAGES
People who fled blazes observe the wildfire still burning in the distance, as night falls on the island Rhodes which remains at the highest level of fire alert, alongside Crete. Like every summer, Greece is plagued by forest fires, often deadly, ravaging tens of thousands of hectares of forest and vegetation. IMAGES
Authorities race to put out wildfires on Rhodes island, which forced thousands, including tourists, to flee. It is the country's largest-ever wildfire evacuation, which left flights and holidays cancelled.
Thousands of travellers have gathered at Rhodes international airport, hoping to leave the Greek island where firefighters have counted more than 46 new wildfires in the last 24 hours. According to the authorities, more than 30,000 people have had to flee the fires burning across the popular tourist destination in "the largest evacuation operation ever carried out in Greece", where temperatures have reached 45 degrees Celsius. IMAGES
U.S. President Barack Obama attends an outdoor arrival ceremony in heavy rain, as the first sitting U.S. president to visit Laos. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).