August 26, 2007	Sunday	Sha’aban 12, 1428

ATHENS, Aug 25: Greece declared a state of emergency on Saturday as the death toll from the worst forest fires in a decade rose to at least 46 and infernos continued to rage on the Peloponnese peninsula and elsewhere.

In a message to the nation, Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis said the action was being was taken “to mobilise all means and all forces” to respond to the drought-stoked infernos on the peninsula and elsewhere.

In the face of the ‘national tragedy’, Karamanlis announced a series of immediate measures, including financial aid and housing to those left homeless by the flames.

“Today is a day of mourning, a national tragedy,” the prime minister said earlier Saturday after a crisis meeting in Sparta city.

He fingered arsonists for starting the fires in areas hit hard by summer droughts and multiple heatwaves, and said his government would “do everything in its power to find and punish those responsible”.

The death toll rose to 46 on Saturday as fire fighters found four bodies near the village of Leondari in the central Peloponnese region of Arcadia.

Two more were found on the western side of the peninsula, where 34 people, including a mother and her four children, died near the village of Zacharo on Friday. Another 27 people were hospitalised with burns.

Six more perished on Friday on the Mani peninsula, a tourist haven in the southern Peloponnese, including four holidaymakers and a volunteer fireman from a heart attack.

Flames fanned by strong winds were spreading through the region, with evacuations ordered for about 10 areas, firefighters said.

The army and health ministry said that tents, sleeping bags and other supplies were being sent, while schools had been commandeered.

Greek President Karolos Papoulias, who was expected to visit the region on Saturday, said: “We are in a state of national mourning ... We must do whatever is necessary so this does not happen again.”

More than 800 firefighters, along with about 400 soldiers, were supported by 11 planes and seven helicopters in the area, as well as in the central Peloponnese near Megalopolis and in the northeast of the peninsula near Corinth.

In a message to the nation, Karamanlis said the decision to declare a state of emergency was taken “to mobilise all means and all forces” to put out the fires.

Responding to Athens’s call for help from European Union partners, France was sending four Canadair specialised firefighting aircraft and 72 firefighters, while Italy has committed one plane. Germany and Norway have also proposed a plane and three helicopters.

Another fire had started near Athens, but firefighters were in the process of bringing it under control in the afternoon. A convent had been evacuated.

On the island of Euboea, northeast of Athens, firefighters had been battling a blaze since Friday night. Evacuations were called for four different areas.—AFP