Mati(Greece): Fire officials in Greece raised the death toll from a wildfire that raged through a coastal area east of Athens to 91 and reported that 25 people were missing on Monday, six days after Europe’s deadliest forest fire in more than a century.
Before the national fire service updated the official number of fatalities, it stood at 86 as hundreds of mourners attended a morning memorial service on Monday for the victims in the seaside village hardest-hit by the blaze.
The fire sped flames through the village of Mati without warning on July 23.
A database maintained by the Centre for the Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters in Brussels shows it as the deadliest wildfire in Europe since 1900.
The vast majority of victims died in the fire itself, though a number drowned in the sea while fleeing the flames. Until Sunday night, Greek officials had not provided a tally of the people reported missing.
The senior local Greek Orthodox Church official, Bishop Kyrillos, presided over the memorial service at Dormition of the Virgin Mary Church in Mati, a popular resort spot that was the place hardest-hit by the blaze that killed at least 86 people.
Kyrillos said the community was mourning the loss of family, neighbors and friends. “What words of comfort can you offer the person who has lost their father, their mother, the grandparents in whose arms their grandchildren were found?” Kyrillos said. “What words of solace can you offer a mother who has lost her baby and left a few flowers on the beach?” (AP)
