Turkey and Italy: Devastating forest fires in the Mediterranean

Strong forest fires are raging in several holiday regions on the Mediterranean. Turkey is currently particularly hard hit. At least six people have died there so far. And Italy is also reporting violent fires.

In Turkey, the fire brigade is fighting devastating forest fires. The situation on the Turkish Mediterranean coast is particularly tense, with strong winds making it difficult to extinguish the fire.

Turkey reports a total of 101 sources of fire – 91 of which are under control. So far, six people have died in the fires, as Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced in the evening.

Panic in the seaside resort of Bodrum

Most recently, a fire broke out in the popular seaside resort of Bodrum on the Turkish Aegean Sea. According to the Anadolu news agency, residents and tourists had to be brought to safety from the flames. Many people rushed to the coast in a panic. Private boats support the authorities with the evacuation. The cause of the fire has not yet been clarified. The authorities are investigating in all directions and are not ruling out arson.

Erdogan in fire region

The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan got an idea of ​​the situation on the spot and promised all victims the support of the state. At the same time, he thanked the Russian President Vladimir Putin for sending helicopters and fire-fighting planes. The number of machines has been increased from six to 13, according to Erdogan.

The Turkish head of state has been criticized in his own country after it became known that Turkey itself has no fire-fighting planes despite the fires that break out every year.

Fires in Sicily – severe weather warning for northern Italy

Italy also reports numerous forest fires – on the popular holiday island of Sicily alone, the fire brigade deployed 250 times within 24 hours. The flames raged mainly around the city of Catania. Around 170 people were trapped in the fires there and had to be evacuated. The airport in Catania had to temporarily cease operations.

The fires are fueled by the persistent heat, drought and strong winds. Some attribute investigators to arson. Sicily’s regional president Nello Musumeci wrote in a post on Facebook of “devastation” as a result of high temperatures. According to him, investigators found that arsonists were behind some of the fires. They are doing irreversible damage to the forest’s heritage and putting people at risk.

In the north of Italy, however, the authorities are warning of heavy rain. For individual areas of northern Italian Lombardy, the highest red warning level applies, according to a report by the civil protection authority. This week, violent storms had led to floods and landslides in the area around Lake Como.

Extreme heat in Greece

Greece is also hit by a severe heat wave. Weather experts predicted temperatures of up to 46 degrees Celsius for the weekend and the whole of the coming week. Also on Rhodes it should be hot next Tuesday with temperatures around 44 degrees. At night it stays hot, especially in the metropolitan areas, with temperatures above 30 degrees.