13 people arrested in Greece for launching fireworks from a yacht and starting a forest fire on an island

Greek authorities arrested 13 people, crew and passengers of a yacht in Greece this Saturday, after they allegedly launched fireworks from the ship that caused a forest fire on the island of Hydra.

According to several agencies, firefighters brought the fire under control, although it burned part of the only pine forest on the island, located in the Bisti area, south of Athens. According to the Greek fire department’s Facebook account, it was a remote area with no roads, so they had to reach the fire by boat.

The fire department sent a press release specifying that those detained will have to testify before the prosecutor this Sunday. “The arrests follow allegations that the forest fire was caused by fireworks released from a boat on Friday night,” an official involved in the case told Reuters.

“We are outraged by the fact that some people so irresponsibly throw fireworks into the pine forest,” Hydra Mayor Giorgos Koukoudakis told Greek radio station ERT.

This fact has generated outrage not only among the mayor, but also among various people on social networks, especially taking into account that the country is expected to have a difficult summer, which is a season of warnings for forest fires.

As a fire department spokesman told EFE, hundreds of firefighters have been fighting dozens of fires across the region for several days and the first deaths have already occurred.

The victim is a 55-year-old man who was helping to put out a large fire in the Elis region on the Peloponnese peninsula (southern), where one of the country’s biggest fires is currently located. “He was not burned and was alive when the ambulance arrived, but we were later told he had died,” the spokesman said.

According to local media, around 50 firefighters along with 19 trucks, 6 aircraft and a tanker helicopter are working in the area to control the wildfire, which has a radius of about 10 kilometres.

The fire has already forced the evacuation of at least 10 towns, while strong winds have made extinguishing operations difficult. Meanwhile, more than 100 firefighters with 38 trucks, 3 planes and a helicopter tanker are fighting another major forest fire in the nearby region of Achaea. At least five towns in the area have already had to be evacuated because of the flames.

Due to this extreme risk, the Civil Protection of Greece has declared a state of alert in Athens starting this Friday and ordered the closure of nearby parks and forests due to the high temperatures, which have already reached 40 degrees.