Türkiye offers help to Greece as wildfires bear down on Athens

Thick smoke covers the National Highway in Athens from a wildfire that broke out in a farmland and forest area in Varnavas, Attica region, Greece, 11 August 2024.

Türkiye has offered aid to Greece in its fight against the wildfires that broke out near Athens over the weekend.

According to the diplomatic sources, Türkiye has notified Greece that it can send teams and equipment to help put out the raging wildfires, upon the instruction of Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.

Greece will respond to Türkiye's offer after evaluating the developments, sources stressed.

Thousands of people living around Athens fled their homes on Monday, including in the historic town of Marathon, as a huge wildfire front crept closer to the capital despite "superhuman" efforts to contain the blaze, officials said.

The mayor of Halandri, a large municipality in northeast Athens, told state TV he had ordered an evacuation of areas closest to the fire as the flames "were really close".

Authorities ordered at least five more communities and two hospitals northeast of Athens to leave after eight nearby villages, including Marathon, were told to evacuate on Sunday.

Marathon's mayor Stergios Tsirkas said the town, which gave its name to the long-distance race that is the centrepiece of the Olympics, was facing a "biblical catastrophe".

A 30-kilometre (20-mile) long wall of flames, more than 25 metres (80 feet) high in places, was moving towards Athens, the ERT public broadcaster reported.

The smell of smoke drifted through Athens' centre as thick grey clouds engulfed Mount Pentelicus, also known as Mount Pentelikon, which looms above the capital and is known for producing the marble used in the Acropolis and other ancient buildings.

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