Villages evacuated in southern Greece as large wildfire sweeps through area
250 firefighters and a water-dropping aircraft were working to contain the blaze
ADVERTISEMENTFirefighters and water-dropping aircraft have been battling for several days to contain a large wildfire in southern Greece that forced evacuations and night-long battles to save homes.
Seven villages and a summer camp have been evacuated since the fire broke out on Wednesday.
It has started at the seaside settlement of Kechries, near the town of Corinth, around 80 kilometres southwest of Athens and rapidly spread inland.
The blaze has seriously damaged or destroyed around 10 homes. Farmland, pine and olive trees have also been burned.
No casualties have been reported as a 1,000 firefighters and volunteers battled to control the spread of the fire.
Wildfires are common in Greece during the summer months. The blaze near Corinth comes just two years after one of the worst wildfires in European history killed 102 people in the towns of Mati and Kokkino Limanaki, near Athens.
Earlier in the day 10 water-dropping helicopters and seven planes were deployed to help the ground operations of the fire department.
Firefighters also battled smaller fires near ancient Olympia, near Petalidi further south and on the southern island of Crete.
