Forest fires in Cyprus: “We are very afraid that the wind will change tonight”

It seems that the forest fires in Cyprus, during which four people died. Helicopters and firefighting planes attempt to contain the blaze. But they cannot be deployed in the dark: “We are very afraid that the wind will change tonight”, explains the Dutch Christine Jansen, who lives on the island.

The fire could spread stretching for three days from the Troodos mountains north of the towns of Limassol and Larnaca. It is an area with a lot of dense vegetation and because of the strong wind, the fire quickly spread. The forest fire started near the village of Arakapas. “He went through the village like a tornado, destroying everything,” said an administrator of the small community.

Authorities suspect the four dead are Egyptian workers. The men, aged 22 to 29, worked in a tomato greenhouse and reportedly tried to escape a truck fire via a mountain road. The vehicle reportedly left the road and they were unable to escape on foot.

There was a heat wave on the island this week, with temperatures over 40 degrees. Police arrested a 67-year-old man. By the time the fire broke out, he allegedly set some garbage on fire.

fiery snake

“Yesterday the fire was still almost 30 kilometers from my house and today it had approached 10 kilometers,” says Jansen. She has lived in Cyprus for over twelve years. “I have never experienced anything like this before.” From her house, she went to the area where the fires are raging. “It was an incredibly long fiery serpent that walked through the mountains to where I stood. Many farmers in the area let their herds of goats and sheep roam free in the mountains. They probably did. all burned. “

Jansen encountered this situation near the forest fire: