ATHENS: Investigators suspect a faulty power cable may have caused Greece’s worst wildfire this year, said sources close to a probe over the blaze that killed one woman and torched 10,000 hectares near Athens, covering a total area about the size of Paris.
The blaze, which began on Aug. 11, broke out from a forest off Varnavas town, 35 km (22 miles) from the capital and into Athens’ northern suburbs, some of which had never seen a wildfire before, within a day.
Authorities have questioned Varnavas residents as part of their investigation into what caused the blaze. A 76-year old man said a wooden electricity pillar outside his home, which had a loose cable fastened to it with a hanger, could have triggered it, officials said.
That scenario was the leading one in the probe, which should be concluded over the coming months, an official with knowledge of the investigation said. Arson was also being considered.
A fire brigade official who declined to be named said an area close to the electricity pole had been determined as the starting point of the blaze.
Wildfires have been a common feature of Greek summers for years, with many attributed to voluntary or involuntary arson, short-circuits or occasionally, to natural causes. The country registered more than 8,000 forest fires in 2023.
In recent years, the risk of such fires has been raised by climate change, which has brought hotter weather and less rain.
A prosecutor has deployed engineers to look into the latest wildfire’s cause.
Greece’s power network operator HEDNO, said it had found no evidence of a malfunction.
“We have no indication that anything wrong such as a short-circuit happened,” an official at HEDNO told Reuters adding, however, that only the relevant authorities were responsible for determining the fire’s cause.
Milder winds have calmed the blaze that covered a distance of 40 kilometers (24.85 miles) before reaching the Athens’ suburbs of Penteli and Vrilissia, where one woman was killed.
Still, flare-ups were possible, officials have warned, as winds are expected to pick up again.
Sunday’s fast moving fire broke out amid a week-long high fire risk alert due to high temperatures and gale force winds.
Greece had its warmest winter on record this year and was on track for its hottest summer with scant rain in many areas, a recipe for fire disasters, according to firefighters.
Faulty power cable may have caused Greece’s worst wildfire this year, investigators say
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Faulty power cable may have caused Greece’s worst wildfire this year, investigators say
- A prosecutor has deployed engineers to look into the latest wildfire’s cause
- The blaze, which began on Aug. 11, broke out from a forest off Varnavas town, 35 km (22 miles) from the capital and into Athens’ northern suburbs
Bangladesh ramps up border vigilance as thousands of Rohingya flee Myanmar
- The influx of refugees from Myanmar has mounted as fighting escalates between the troops of the ruling junta and the Arakan Army
- The new arrivals add to more than one million Rohingya refugees already living in overcrowded camps in Cox’s Bazar district
The influx of refugees from Myanmar has mounted as fighting escalates between the troops of the ruling junta and the Arakan Army, the powerful ethnic militia that recruits from the Buddhist majority.
“Thousands of Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh and many are waiting to cross. The situation is dire,” said a foreign ministry official, who asked not to be named as he was not authorized to talk to media.
The new arrivals add to more than one million Rohingya refugees already living in overcrowded camps in Cox’s Bazar district after they fled a military-led crackdown in Myanmar in 2017. They have little hope of returning to Myanmar, where they are largely denied citizenship and other basic rights.
Arrivals have more than doubled from what the government estimated earlier this month, despite Bangladesh repeatedly saying it cannot accept more Rohingya refugees as resources are already stretched thin.
“The vigilance at the border has increased, but managing our 271km (168 miles) border with Myanmar is challenging, especially without a security counterpart on the other side,” said another government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The official said many Rohingya were desperate and were finding ways to cross into Bangladesh.
The government was yet to make a decision on whether to register those who have entered recently and are living in refugee camps, said the foreign ministry official.
“If we decide to register them, it could open the floodgates, and that’s something we can’t afford,” he said. “But at the same time, how long can we ignore this issue? That’s the real question.”
The head of Bangladesh’s interim government, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, has called for a fast-tracked third-country resettlement of Rohingya as a long-term solution, but the foreign ministry official said progress on resettlement has been limited.
“Around 2,000 people have gone under the resettlement program since it resumed in 2022 after a gap of 12 years,” he said, adding that the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland were among countries taking in refugees.
Hundreds flee after Philippine volcano warning
- About 300 residents of villages within four kilometers of the Kanlaon volcano crater were evacuated as a precaution
- Kanlaon’s daily average emission of sulfur dioxide almost tripled to 9,985 tonnes on Tuesday
MANILA: Hundreds of people fled their homes in the Philippines on Wednesday after a volcano spurted harmful gases, an official said, as experts warned of a potential eruption.
About 300 residents of villages within four kilometers of the Kanlaon volcano crater in the center of the country were evacuated on Tuesday as a precaution, the local government of nearby Canlaon City said.
The evacuees have taken temporary shelter at schools and community centers away from the volcano, city information officer Edna Lhou Masicampo said on Wednesday.
“People from villages near the foot of the volcano have been complaining about the strong smell of sulfur,” Masicampo said, adding most residents are farmers.
Classes were suspended and some tourist spots in the city of around 60,000 people were closed on Wednesday due to the volcano warning.
Kanlaon’s daily average emission of sulfur dioxide almost tripled to 9,985 tonnes on Tuesday.
“This is the highest emission from the volcano recorded since instrumental gas monitoring began,” the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said in a statement.
“Current activity may lead to eruptive unrest,” it said, putting residents of the four villages at risk from red hot, swiftly moving ash clouds, “ballistic projectiles, rockfalls and others.”
Rising more than 2,400 meters (nearly 8,000 feet) above sea level on the central island of Negros, Kanlaon is one of 24 active volcanoes in the Philippines.
It has erupted 15 times in the past nine years.
Three hikers were killed in August 1996 due to ash ejection from Kanlaon.
The state volcanology agency raised the alert level for the volcano in June from one to two on a zero-to-five scale, warning more explosive eruptions were possible.
The Philippines is located in the seismically active Pacific “Ring of Fire,” which contains more than half the world’s volcanoes.
Kenya airport strike disrupts flights
- Kenya Airways warned of delays and possible cancelations of flights for both departing and arriving passengers
- Strike would continue until the government scraps a plan to lease the airport to India’s Adani Group for 30 years
NAIROBI: Passengers were left stranded at Kenya’s main airport on Wednesday as staff went on strike over a planned takeover by an Indian company.
The walk-out by the Kenyan Aviation Workers Union began at midnight, disrupting flights at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).
Queues of passengers were outside the airport on Wednesday, some sitting on their luggage, and there were lines of cars trying to access the area, AFP reporters said.
The union said the strike would continue until the government scrapped a plan to lease the airport to India’s Adani Group for 30 years in exchange for a $1.85 billion investment.
“The strike is on and all shifts have been suspended,” union leader Moses Ndiema told workers at the airport.
“Adani must go, that is not optional,” he said.
Kenya Airways warned of delays and possible cancelations of flights for both departing and arriving passengers.
Critics say the plan to lease JKIA to Adani will lead to job losses for local staff and rob taxpayers of future airport profits.
Freight and passenger fees from the airport account for more than five percent of Kenya’s GDP.
The Law Society of Kenya and the Kenya Human Rights Commission won a delay on the deal from the High Court on Monday, arguing that it lacked “transparency.”
Kenya’s government has defended the plan as necessary to refurbish JKIA.
It is one of Africa’s busiest hubs, handling 8.8 million passengers and 380,000 tons of cargo in 2022-23, but is often hit by power outages and leaking roofs.
Adani would add a second runway and upgrade the passenger terminal, according to the Kenya Airport Authority.
At least two dead, hundreds stranded in Thailand as floods hit north
- The adverse weather, which comes in the wake of Typhoon Yagi — the most powerful storm in Asia this year, has impacted about 9,000 households in Thailand
BANGKOK: At least two people were killed and hundreds stranded in Thailand after heavy rains swept through two northern provinces, swelling rivers, inundating settlements and triggering mudslides, authorities said on Wednesday.
The adverse weather, which comes in the wake of Typhoon Yagi — the most powerful storm in Asia this year, has impacted about 9,000 households in Thailand, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said.
“Water currents are still strong,” she told reporters. “All agencies are prepared and when the current eases, they will go in immediately.”
The impacts of the storm have killed at least 143 people in Vietnam, where it made landfall on Saturday before moving westwards, with floods forcing the evacuation of thousands of residents living near the swelling Red River in the capital Hanoi.
Thailand’s Chiang Mai province experienced flash floods and mudslides, with two deaths recorded, according to its governor.
In the Mai Sai district of neighboring Chiang Rai province, which borders Myanmar, rubber boats were unable to reach some flooded areas where hundreds were stuck and awaiting help, said district chief Narongpol Kid-an.
“Helicopters will be used to evacuate stranded residents and deliver food and water,” he told Reuters.
A resident in the main town in Mae Sai, which has a population of over 28,000, said their group of three people was trapped on the second floor of a building after rising water submerged the lower level.
“We have not eaten anything since yesterday morning,” the resident said, asking not to be named.
“It is still raining heavily in Mae Sai. We hope a rescue team or somebody will come to help us.”
Flash flood sweeps away hamlet as Vietnam storm toll rises to 141 dead
- Torrent of water buried Lang Nu hamlet with 35 families in mud and debris
- Rescuers have recovered 16 bodies and are continuing the search for about 40 others
HANOI, Vietnam: A flash flood swept away an entire hamlet in northern Vietnam, killing 16 people and leaving dozens missing as deaths from a typhoon and its aftermath climbed to 141 on Wednesday.
Vietnamese state broadcaster VTV said the torrent of water gushing down from a mountain in Lao Cai province Tuesday buried Lang Nu hamlet with 35 families in mud and debris.
Only about a dozen are known so far to have survived. Rescuers have recovered 16 bodies and are continuing the search for about 40 others.
The death toll from Typhoon Yagi and its aftermath has climbed to 141 as 69 others remain missing and hundreds were injured, VTV said.
Yagi was the strongest typhoon to hit the Southeast Asian country in decades. It made landfall Saturday with winds of up to 149 kph (92 mph) and despite weakening on Sunday, downpours have continued and rivers remain dangerously high.
Floods and landslides have caused most of the deaths, many of which have come in the northwestern Lao Cai province, bordering China, where Lang Nu is located.
