Nathanail Rigas

Thessaloniki's fire department received more than 300 emergency calls to pump water from flooded basements, ground-floor apartments and shops after a storm and hail pounded the city on Thursday.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry on March 22 expressed its sadness over the fire damage done to a nearly 600-year-old Ottoman era mosque in Greece. 

A fire during restoration works has caused serious damage to a historic 15th century Ottoman mosque in Didymoteicho, northeastern Greece, local officials said on March 22.

"For the moment there is no indication that arson was involved," Nathanail Rigas, head fireman of the Thrace region bordering Turkey, told AFP.