Thousands evacuated as fires rage in tourist areas of Greece and Türkiye

Greek firefighters try to control a fire in the southeast of the island of Crete on Thursday (3), which forced the evacuation of around 5,000 people, mainly tourists, while in Turkey, several fires are raging in the tourist province of Izmir, where one person died.

In Crete, one of Greece's top tourist destinations, the fire broke out on Wednesday.

"Preventive evacuations of around 3,000 tourists and 2,000 residents were carried out mainly on the night of Wednesday to Thursday after an emergency message was sent by authorities" in this region near the coastal city of Ierapetra, Yorgos Tzarakis, president of the region's hoteliers' union, told AFP.

Public television ERT reported that “more than a thousand” people, including tourists, had been evacuated.

Another fire broke out on Thursday afternoon about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from Athens, near the tourist port town of Rafina. The main road into the Greek capital was blocked.

An “emergency message for the evacuation” of villages near the flames was sent to mobile phones, fire chief Kostas Tsigas told ERT.

In neighboring Turkey, two fires have been raging in forests since Wednesday night near the western city of Izmir, driven by winds of more than 85 km/h.

An elderly man died in a fire near Odemiş, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of Izmir, in one of three evacuated towns in the area, Salih Uzun, a member of the opposition CHP party, told Halk TV.

“The village was evacuated, but an elderly man, who was bedridden, could not be saved,” he said.

Another large fire was raging near Cesme, about 80 kilometers west of Izmir, forcing the evacuation of three other towns.