British firefighters to battle Greece wildfires – as footage shows boat escape while island burns
British firefighters are being deployed to tackle the raging wildfires in Greece – as new footage shows people escaping by boat as flames fill the sky.
It comes after the death of a volunteer firefighter and the evacuation of thousands of people from an island near Athens, as well as towns north of the capital.
The National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) said teams from Merseyside, Lancashire, South Wales, London and West Midlands fire services will fly to Athens this weekend to battle the blazes alongside Greek firefighters.
People are evacuated off the island of Evia as fires rage in the village of Limni
Thousands of people have been evacuated by ferry
Home Secretary Priti Patel said: “I’ve seen first-hand this week the devastating wildfires ripping through Greece and the UK stands shoulder to shoulder with our Greek friends at this difficult time.
“I’ve asked the National Fire Chiefs Council to send out a specialist team to provide support in responding to this emergency. I am immensely grateful to the brave firefighters for stepping forward and volunteering to help, and their expertise will be invaluable in supporting the Greek emergency services.”
The wildfires broke out amid the country’s most severe heatwave in 30 years, with temperatures soaring to more than 40C (104F) in some areas.
Fires burned through Greece for a fifth day on Saturday as flames swept through a town near Athens overnight and thousands of residents and tourists were evacuated by ferry from the island of Evia, east of the capital, in apocalyptic scenes shown in new footage.
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Dramatic evacuation of fire-hit Greek island
The blaze on Mount Parnitha has seen crews grappling with winds and high temperatures in a bid to contain it.
“We’re talking about the apocalypse, I don’t know how to describe it,” Sotiris Danikas, head of the coastguard in the town of Aidipsos, Evia, told state broadcaster ERT.
Civil Protection chief Nikos Hardalias said firefighters faced “exceptionally dangerous, unprecedented conditions” as they battled 154 wildfires on Friday, with 64 still burning into the night.
A firefighter battles a wildfire burning in the suburb of Thrakomakedones, north of Athens
“Over the past few days we have been facing a situation without precedent in our country, in the intensity and wide distribution of the wildfires, and the new outbreaks all over (Greece),” he said.
While the flames appeared to die down later on Saturday, winds were forecast to strengthen – meaning there was still a high threat they would flare again.
During an emergency briefing, Mr Hardalias said: “Under no circumstances can we be complacent. We are fighting a very big battle.”
A resident evacuates the area with his animals as a wildfire rages in the suburb of Thrakomakedones, north of Athens
Homes and businesses have been left blackened and destroyed, although authorities have been unable yet to provide detailed figures for how widespread the damage is.
Homes and other buildings have been destroyed
Shifting winds and new flashpoints on Friday afternoon caused the blazes outside Athens and Evia to repeatedly change direction, in some cases returning to threaten areas that had narrowly escaped destruction earlier in the week.
In the last 24 hours, more than 400 wildfires have broken out across Greece, with the biggest still burning in Evia and areas in the Peloponnese including Ancient Olympia, the site of the first Olympic Games.
High temperatures have caused the huge wildfires in Greece – with people being forced to evacuate their homes.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis described it as a “nightmarish summer”, adding the government’s priority “has been, first and foremost, to protect human lives”.
At least 20 people have needed hospital treatment across Greece and the causes of the fires are under investigation.
Firefighters battled 154 wildfires on Friday, with 64 burning into the night
In neighbouring Turkey, authorities evacuated six more neighbourhoods near the Mugla province town of Milas as a wildfire burned some 5 kilometres (3 miles) from a power plant.
Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan said they were the worst wildfires in the country’s history and six fires were still burning in on Saturday.
On the island of Evia, people were evacuated by cruise ships after other routes were closed off by flames
So far, eight people have died in the fires that have burned through Turkey’s Aegean and Mediterranean coastal regions for 11 days, forcing thousands of residents and tourists to leave homes and hotels.
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Ireland pledging emergency legislation to send asylum seekers back to UK in wake of Rwanda bill being passed
Ireland is pledging emergency legislation enabling it to send asylum seekers back to the UK.
More than 80% of recent arrivals in the republic came via the land border with Northern Ireland, Irish justice minister Helen McEntee told a parliamentary committee last week.
Rishi Sunak told Sky News it showed the UK’s Rwanda scheme was already working as a deterrent after it finally became law last week.
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Ireland plans to return migrants to UK
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Ireland’s deputy prime minister has said the threat of deportation to Rwanda is causing migrants to head for Ireland instead of the UK.
Micheal Martin said the policy was already affecting Ireland because people are “fearful” of staying in the UK.
The former taoiseach told The Daily Telegraph: “Maybe that’s the impact it was designed to have.”
Protesters in Dublin. Pic: PA
Simon Harris, Ireland’s latest leader, has asked Ms McEntee to “bring proposals to cabinet to amend existing law regarding the designation of safe ‘third countries’ and allowing the return of inadmissible international protection applicants to the UK”, a spokesman said.
Ms McEntee said she will be meeting UK Home Secretary James Cleverly in London on Monday.
“There are many reasons why we have seen an increase in migration towards Ireland,” she told RTE.
“My focus as minister for justice is making sure that we have an effective immigration structure and system.
“That’s why I’m introducing fast processing, that’s why I’ll have emergency legislation at cabinet this week to make sure that we can effectively return people to the UK, and that’s why I’ll be meeting with the home secretary to raise these issues on Monday.”
People are now “worried” about coming to the UK, Rishi Sunak has said.
He told Sky News: “If people come to our country illegally, but know that they won’t be able to stay here, they are much less likely to come, and that’s why the Rwanda scheme is so important.”
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Mr Sunak said the comments from Irish politicians show that “illegal migration is a global challenge”.
“[That] is why you’re seeing multiple countries talk about doing third country partnerships, looking at novel ways to solve this problem, and I believe [they] will follow where the UK has led,” he said.
Shadow minister Wes Streeting said it was unlikely a Labour government would bring people back from Rwanda if some are sent there.
“Once people are settled in Rwanda, they’re settled in Rwanda,” he told Sky News, adding it was doubtful that Labour would “unpick that situation”.
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Regarding illegal migration in general, he said it required “putting the money that’s gone to Rwanda into the National Crime Agency so we can have proper cross-border policing to tackle the criminal gangs, speeding up the processing of decision-making, making sure we’ve got serious returns agreements with other countries”.
He added: “Those are solutions that can work.”
Pope Francis has made his first trip out of Rome for seven months with a visit to Venice where he asked worshippers to “pray for me”.
It was a rare acknowledgement of the strains of the job as he told thousands of the faithful gathered in St Mark’s Square: “This work is not easy”.
During a five-hour visit on Sunday, the pontiff visited an art exhibition and prison as well as conducting mass.
The 87-year-old unexpectedly withdrew from a Good Friday procession in March “to preserve his health”.
He had been battling respiratory problems all winter that made it difficult for him to speak at length.
In December, he was due to go to the United Arab Emirates, but pulled out after coming down with flu.
A painful knee ailment makes it hard for him to walk and on Sunday he regularly used a wheelchair, with Vatican News Television cutting away whenever he was helped into a chair to give a speech, or on to his white golf cart.
Pic: Reuters
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The Pope acknowledged Venice’s “enchanting beauty” in his homily at a mass before about 10,000 people in the shadow of St Mark’s Basilica, one of the most celebrated churches in Italy.
But he said the city also faced an array of challenges, including climate change, the fragility of its cultural heritage, and overtourism.
“Moreover, all these realities risk generating… frayed social relations, individualism, and loneliness,” he said.
Venice introduced a €5 charge last week for day-trippers during peak travel periods in an effort to thin the crowds.
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He started the day by flying by helicopter into a women’s prison where the Vatican has set up an exhibition that is part of the Venice Biennale, a prestigious international art show that has never been visited by a pope before.
The pope has repeatedly called for society to rally around the poor and neglected, including prison populations.
“Prison is a harsh reality, and problems such as overcrowding, the lack of facilities and resources, and episodes of violence, give rise to a great deal of suffering. But it can also become a place of moral and material rebirth,” he told inmates and guards on Sunday.
He also addressed a group of young Venetians, urging them not to spend their life glued to their smartphones, but to help others.
“If we always focus on our self, our needs, and what we lack, we will always find ourselves back at the starting point, crying over ourselves with a long face,” he said.
Two Russian journalists could face at least two years in prison after they were arrested on “extremism” charges, accused of working for a group founded by the late Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny.
Konstantin Gabov and Sergey Karelin are accused of preparing materials for a YouTube channel run by Navalny’s Foundation for Fighting Corruption, which has been outlawed by Russian authorities.
Russian courts have ordered them to remain in custody pending an investigation and trial.
They will be detained for at least two months before any trial begins.
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They face a minimum of two years’ jail time and a maximum of six years for alleged “participation in an extremist organisation”, according to Russian courts.
Both journalists deny the charges.
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The journalists are the latest to be arrested amid a Russian government crackdown on dissent and independent media that intensified after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian government passed laws criminalising what it deems false information or discreditory statements about the military, effectively outlawing any criticism of the war in Ukraine.
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Mr Gabov, who was detained in Moscow, is a freelance producer who has worked for multiple outlets, including Reuters, the court press service said.
Mr Karelin, who has dual citizenship with Israel and has previously worked for The Associated Press, was detained on Friday night in Russia’s northern Murmansk region.
“The Associated Press is very concerned by the detention of Russian video journalist Sergey Karelin,” the AP said in a statement. “We are seeking additional information.”
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Their arrests come after Forbes journalist Sergei Mingazov was detained on charges of spreading false information about the Russian military on Friday, according to his lawyer.
A number of journalists have been jailed in relation to their coverage of Mr Navalny, who died in an Arctic penal colony in February.
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