Romania helps Greece extinguish fires

Two Romanian military planes have been sent to Greece to help extinguish recent fires. One of them is a C-27 J Spartan, configured to put out fires and the second is a C-130 Hercules, for logistical support.

Romanian soldiers have arrived in Greece for almost 24 hours, they co-ordinate with their Greek colleagues and are ready to intervene when asked to do so, declared C-27 J Spartan Commander Florin Ianculescu, in an interview offered to Radio Romania News Producers of “Army Hour” show.

Florin Ianculescu: 2-3 more outbreaks have been discovered and probably the Emergency Command is taking decisions where to act next. Every hour we receive coordinates and action areas to prepare and we wait for the green light. Weather today has been very changing, with strong storms in our area, reason why we could not operate in any of the areas affected by the fire.

Greece faces the deadliest wildfires in more than a decade, with a dead toll rising to 85, countless missing and more than 180 injured. An impressive international support is heading towards Greece these days, after Athens has activated the European Civil Protection Mechanism.

According to the RRA Reporter to Athens, Michaela Lambrinidou, foreign aid from all EU and non-EU countries came to Greece, including from Turkey and the Republic of Northern Macedonia. Aids came by air, through vehicles, human forces, firemen came from Cyprus, two planes came from Romania. Prosecutor of the Supreme Court ordered an investigation to establish the causes of the fire and the reasons why the state apparatus had not had an evacuation plan for these situations. There is also a suspicion that there was a delay in state intervention when the fires broke out. However, in one of the forests that were burned, an explosive device was discovered. The police have so far arrested five people suspected of being involved in the outburst of these fires.

Source:RRA.Translated by Miruna Matei