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Deadliest wildfires in the Mediterranean / Photo: VALERIE GACHE - AFP/File
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Deadliest wildfires in the Mediterranean
Algeria and Greece are battling massive wildfires that have ripped through homes and resorts, killing dozens of people in nightmarish scenes that have become a staple of summer in the Mediterranean.
AFP looks at the deadliest wildfires in the region since 2000.
- Algeria in 2021 and 2022 -
More than 90 people, including 33 soldiers, were killed in dozens of wildfires in Algeria in August 2021.
The government blamed arsonists and a blistering heatwave for the blazes, but experts also criticised authorities for failing to prepare for the annual wildfire season.
In August 2022, massive blazes killed 37 people over several days in northeastern El Tarf province, near the border with Tunisia.
More than 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres) went up in smoke in El Kala National Park, a UNESCO-listed heritage spot famous for its rich marine, dune, lake and forest ecosystems.
- Greece in 2007 and 2018 -
In Greece's worst-ever fire disaster, 102 people died when wildfires swept through homes and vehicles in the coastal town of Mati near Athens in July 2018, leaving only charred remains.
The majority of the victims were trapped by the flames as they sat in traffic jams while trying to flee. Others drowned while trying to escape by sea.
In 2007, a 12-day inferno starting in late August killed at least 67 people and destroyed 800 homes across the southern Peloponnese peninsula.
The flames engulfed most of the region's olive groves. The Aegean island of Evia was also badly affected.
In all 77 people died that summer due to fires.
- Portugal in 2017 -
The deadliest wildfires in Portugese history broke out in the central Leiria region during a heatwave in June 2017 and burned through hills covered with pine and eucalyptus trees for five days.
Many of the 63 people who died became trapped in their cars while trying to escape.
In October, a new series of deadly fires broke out in northern Portugal, killing another 45 people as well as four in neighbouring Spain. Those fires were chiefly blamed on arsonists.
- Israel in 2010 -
The worst inferno in Israel's history raged through Carmel forest, south of the coastal city of Haifa for four days, in December 2010, killing 44 people and destroying hundreds of homes.
Most of the victims were prison guards trapped in their bus as they raced to help evacuate a prison from the approaching flames.
D.Ch. Nadeau--SMC
