Thirteen
people appear in Greek court on charges of causing Hydra forest fire
Fireworks
allegedly launched from superyacht led to blaze that destroyed large swath of
island’s only pine forest
Helena Smith
in Athens
Sun 23 Jun
2024 15.43 BST
Thirteen
people were brought before a Greek public prosecutor on Sunday after being
arrested in connection with a forest fire ignited on the island of Hydra by
fireworks allegedly launched from the pleasure boat they were sailing on.
Local media
showed the 13 crew members and passengers arriving at the criminal court in
Piraeus to answer charges of causing the blaze on Friday night.
“The
prosecutor has requested that the vessel in question be seized,” said the
country’s minister of climate crisis and civil protection, Vasilis Kikilias.
“It remains to be seen from [their] testimonies what they did, and didn’t, do.”
The fire
destroyed a large swath of the otherwise rocky Argo-Saronic isle’s only pine
forest before it was extinguished by firefighters on Saturday. “Six airplanes
and two teams of firefighters, who had to be absent from dealing with other
fires and services, were required to put it out,” said Kikilias, estimating
that about 1,200 hectares (3,000 acres) of forest had been lost to the blaze.
Media
reports described the passengers as Kazakh citizens. The nationality of the
crew members also onboard the Persefoni I – a 53-metre-long (176ft) luxury
superyacht chartered for €299,000 (£253,000) a week in the high season –
remained unclear.
Greece has
endured unusually hot weather, with a heatwave occurring before 15 June – the
earliest on record – and temperatures exceeding 44C (111F) in some locations.
After an
excessively mild winter, much of the Mediterranean country has become a
tinderbox. In recent days the extreme weather conditions have sparked fires
across the country.
On Friday,
the civil protection service called for extreme vigilance because the risk of
fires, often fanned by gale-force winds, was “very high”, particularly in the
Attica region, the Peloponnese peninsula and central Greece.
A popular
island south of Athens, Hydra has become a favoured stopover for holidaymakers
chartering yachts, a form of tourism that has increased along with the record
numbers visiting the country.
The island’s
mayor, Giorgos Koukoudakis, said the municipality would be seeking compensation
once the judicial process had run its course, if the accused were found guilty.
“Depending
on the outcome, our town hall will seek compensation,” he said. “What was
destroyed was absolutely beautiful pine forest and on the night in question,
because of the winds, fireworks were banned. To use them was utterly
irresponsible.”
Penalties
for arson and ecological destruction have been toughened in Greece, with the
amended criminal code stipulating prison terms of up to 20 years and fines of
up to €200,000 for those found guilty of such crimes.
A
Mediterranean hotspot, Greece is on the frontline of the climate emergency.
Last year,
an unprecedented two-week heatwave was followed by devastating wildfires that
left 20 people dead. Since the onset of the season this year, eight tourists,
including the well-known British TV presenter Michael Mosley, have died as a
result of suspected heat exhaustion after embarking on island hikes during
blistering temperatures.
Post-Covid
tourism is thriving, with more than 33 million arrivals expected this year in a
country of fewer than 11 million people.
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