Newlywed missing on honeymoon as deadly fires spread through resort town
A bride is desperately trying to find her husband after the honeymooning couple became separated in the midst of the terrifying bushfires devastating a Greek tourist region.
Irish newlyweds Zoe Holohan and Brian O’Callaghan-Westropp were celebrating near Mati, about 30 kilometres east of Athens, after their wedding last Thursday.
The Irish Daily Mail reports the pair lost each other when they were being transported away from fires which have destroyed their honeymoon destination.
The Irish bride is now in hospital being treated for burns while her new husband is yet to be located.
At least 74 people have been killed by the bushfires that swept through through the coastal town of Mati. The fires caused people to become trapped in cars and on the edge of cliffs.
They are the worst Greek forest fires in a decade and Reuters reports a witness seeing at least four people dead on a road at Mati.
The scale of Monday night’s devastation in the resort town became apparent in first light on Tuesday.
Scores of gutted cars lined streets, melted by the intensity of the heat.
Bodies found embracing as scores of people die
Bodies lay on roadsides, and in one area, a group of 26 people were found dead – some locked in an embrace as the flames closed in.
The group, which included children, were found near the top of a cliff overlooking a beach. They had ended up there after apparently searching for an escape route.
The lucky ones were able to leap off cliffs to survive, or rush into the sea from the beach.
Bushfires are not uncommon in Greece, and a relatively dry winter and hot summer helped create the tinder-box conditions.
The cause of the blaze was not immediately clear and an Athens prosecutor ordered an investigation into it.
Mati is a popular spot for Greek holidaymakers, particularly pensioners and children at summer camp.
Desperate escape into the sea ends in tragedy
A lucky survivor has revealed the moment he managed to escape the inferno.
He was part of a group of friends that ran to the beach in Rafina, on the eastern coast of Greece, and swam into the ocean. They were choked and blinded by smoke while being pulled by a strong current.
The same winds that fanned flames whipped up seas and the group lost sight of the shore and became disoriented.
For two hours the group struggled to stay afloat, until salvation came in the form of a fishing boat and its Egyptian crew.
Nikos Stavrinidis was pulled to safety, along with his wife and two of their friends.
Another woman and her son disappeared into the waves.
“It is terrible to see the person next to you drowning and not be able to help him. You can’t,” Mr Stavrinidis said.
“That will stay with me.”
Mr Stavrindis and his wife went to the Greek port of Rafina to prepare their summer home for their daughter, who planned to visit for the summer, when they were caught up in the deadly wildfires.
“It happened very fast. The fire was in the distance, then sparks from the fire reached us. Then the fire was all around us,” he said.
“The wind was indescribable – it was incredible. I’ve never seen anything like this before in my life
With Reuters and AP
