Fire brigade announces seven arrests

   Fire brigade says seven arrested for recent fires; new fire in Megalopolis (ADDS)

   

    Seven people have so far been charged with setting the blazes that have swept the country since Friday, the fire brigade announced on Monday. Meanwhile, the death toll from the inferno in the fire-ringed zones of the Peloponnese and Evia has increased to at least 63 according to updated figures from the health ministry.

    The suspects caught include one in the town of Zacharo in Ileia, one person in the prefecture of Laconia, four people in Styra in Evia and one in Xanthi. From the start of June until now, a total of 33 people in Greece have been charged with starting fires according to records in the crimes of arson department.

    According to the latest update, serious fires are still raging in Sekoula, Faskomilia and Matesi Andritsainas in the prefecture of Ileia. The flames have also crossed over into the prefectures of Arcadia and Messinia, where dozens of villages have been evacuated as a precaution. The fire has passed through at least two villages in Gortynia and was heading toward Kotylio.

    At around 16:30, the mayor of Megalopolis reported a new major fire almost within the town limits from the direction of Gortynia, while a truck carrying humanitarian aid and food from Tripolis has just arrived in the town.

    Dozens of wild fires throughout the country are still blazing unchecked, their numbers augmented by another five wild fires that started on Monday, the most serious of which are in Chania and Thesprotia.

    Assisting Greek fire fighting forces are 60 Cypriot fire men on the island of Evia, 60 French firemen in Sparti and 25 Israeli firemen at Ancient Olympia. The Greek fire fighting fleet has been increased with the addition of two Spanish and one Italian aircraft fighting the fire at Mistros in Evia, two French aircraft at Isari in Arcadia and another two French aircraft at Akovo in Arcadia. Expected to arrive later tonight are three helicopters sent by Holland, four from Switzerland and three from Germany.

    Earlier the fire brigade had announced that no less than new 89 wildfires were reported over a 24-hour period ending at 6 a.m. Most of the fires were centred in the Peloponnese, in an arc stretching from west to east that included devastated Ileia and ancient Olympia, the birthplace of the Olympic Games, where the flames were stopped literally at the perimeter of the ancient site on Sunday but destroyed a historic ancient forest on a hill overlooking the stadion. Other major blazes were also burning a swathe through lush pinewood in Sofiko in the northeast Peloponnese and in the prefectures of Messinia, around Megalopolis in Arcadia and Achaia.

   

    Caption: A batch of trees burn out of control next to the museum at the archaeological site of ancient Olympia, in the western Peloponnese, on Sunday, Aug. 26, 2007. ANA-MPA /ORESTIS PANAGIOTOU