A violent forest fire devastated several seaside towns east of Athens on Thursday, damaging homes and prompting dozens of evacuations in a popular destination for Greek and foreign tourists.
The fire broke around 12.30pm local time (9.30am UK time) near the towns of Palaia Fokaia and Thymari, around 30 miles east of Athens, and forced the evacuation of five villages, according to Greek firefighters.
It comes on the heels of another fire on the island of Chios - Greece's fifth-largest island - which as of Wednesday had destroyed more than 10,000 acres of land in four days.
'Ground and aerial forces are waging an enormous battle against the flames,' said fire service spokesperson Vassilis Vathrakogiannis, adding that around 130 firefighters as well as volunteers were fighting the blaze, and around a dozen planes and helicopters had been deployed.
'This is a difficult fire fuelled by strong winds,' another fire service official told AFP.
