SOUNI, Cyprus: Two people have died in a wildfire outside Cyprus’s second city of Limassol fanned by strong winds and temperatures that were forecast to reach 44C, authorities said on Thursday.
Police said two charred bodies were found in a burnt out car believed to have been caught up in the blaze that erupted on Wednesday afternoon.
“We express the deep sorrow of the state over the unjust loss of two of our fellow citizens during the devastating wildfires,” said government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis.
Announcing relief measures for the affected communities, Letymbiotis said that “what is unfolding in our country... is unprecedented” with “multiple simultaneous wildfire outbreaks.”
Health authorities said two people were admitted to hospital with severe burns while another 16 were treated for less serious injuries.
Fire service spokesperson Andreas Kettis said the blaze, which started in the village of Malia in the hills above Limassol, ravaged 100 square kilometers (nearly 40 square miles).
He said there were “no active fronts” in the fire but intense “flare-ups” continued in the area.
Authorities issued an extreme heat alert for the Mediterranean holiday island as temperatures were expected to peak at 44C.
More than 250 firefighters and 75 vehicles were deployed to battle the blaze.
The government has asked neighboring countries to send aircraft to support the firefighting effort.
Justice Minister Marios Hartsiotis told public broadcaster CyBC that Jordan had two firefighting aircraft on stand-by while two more were expected to come from Spain.
Israel said it would send later on Thursday a military aircraft “to provide aerial support to Cyprus in its battle against the fires sweeping the island.”
Hartsiotis said 106 people had to spend the night in temporary accommodation after several villages were evacuated in the face of the advancing flames.
Scores of homes are feared to have been damaged or destroyed by the fire, with 16 communities left without electricity for airconditioning or refrigeration in the searing heat.
“When I entered my house, I saw the mountain and the valley full of flames,” said Antonis Christou, a resident of Kandou, one of the villages affected by the fire.
“I cried, really I cried, because people got burnt, and someone got burnt while in his car.”
Fire service chief Nikos Longinos told CyBC that he had passed on witness testimony to the police which suggested that the blaze might have been started deliberately.
Cyprus is hit by wildfires almost every year during the island’s hot, dry summers. A 2021 wildfire in Larnaca district killed four Egyptian farmworkers.
