Two children among 18 people burned in wildfire
Two children were among the 18 people burned in a forest fire in the northeast of the country, an official has confirmed.
Pavlos Pavlidis, coroner in the city of Alexandroupoli, conducted an initial inspection at the site where the charred remains were found, south of the village of Avantas.
“There were a total of 18 charred bodies, all male, and two of them were children,” he said.
“They were all found in groups of two or three people at a distance of 500 meters, apparently while trying to escape, and some of them were burned in a shack.”
The 18 bodies were found in a rural area in Evros where wildfires have been burning out of control for a fourth day. The dead were migrants, according to Migration Minister Dimitris Keridis.
Pavlidis added that the bodies will be removed to a hospital on Wednesday for the purposes of a post mortem examination.
He was unable to confirm rumors that another eight bodies were found at a different location.
The Evros region is a popular route for migrants from the Middle East and Asia crossing the river from Turkey into the European Union. Authorities have reported an uptick in crossings this month. [AMNA]
