Greece declares emergency after fires kill 47

By Vassilis Triandafyllou

ZACHARO, Greece (Reuters) - Greece declared a nationwide state of emergency on Saturday after the country's worst forest fires in decades killed at least 47 people and trapped many more in villages surrounded by flames.

With swathes of the Peloponnese peninsula, the island of Evia and even eastern suburbs of Athens burning, thousands fled the blaze and hundreds of homes and businesses went up in flames, along with tens of thousands of acres of forest.

Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis said the rash of forest fires "can't be a coincidence". He vowed the culprits would be found and punished, implying arsonists were responsible.

"All regions of the country are declared in a state of emergency in order to mobilize all means and forces to face this disaster," he said in a televised address to the nation.

Church bells tolled as hundreds of villages were evacuated and residents used garden hoses and buckets in a futile effort to save their homes from the raging fires.

"There is no single fire truck here," a resident of the town of Aliveri on Evia told Greek television. "We are lost, lost without any hope. We have been left to die."

Fires broke out on Friday on the southern Peloponnese peninsula, scorching forests and olive groves, and soon spread to new fronts, fanned by strong winds that have hampered rescue efforts, racing through villages and killing dozens.

Forest fires also broke out near Athens, forcing the evacuation of homes and a monastery and closing the motorway from the capital to the main airport for several hours.

COMPLETE HELL

Ash from the fires blanketed the city centre, making breathing difficult, and strong winds kept the threat of fire close to the Athens suburbs of Keratea and Kalyvia at night.

"This is complete hell," Kalyvia mayor Petros Filippou told reporters. "The front is 30 km long and has now reached the first houses. That's it."

The thinly stretched fire department said the official death toll had risen to 47, including several children. More were feared dead as many villages remained cut off by walls of flame.

Rescuers said they had found bodies by the side of roads, in burnt-out homes and in cars, including a mother still clutching her children.

Fire officers said there were about 100 forest fires around the country, though the Peloponnese was the worst hit region. Soaring temperatures, winds, drought and arson have been blamed for the unusual number of fires this summer.

"The situation across the country is extremely crucial and we should not expect signs of improvement at least through the night," fire brigade spokesman Nikos Diamantis told reporters.