A forest fire raging unchecked on Mount Pendeli near Athens yesterday was threatening a monastery, a hospital and several holiday communities after burning up thousands of hectares of woodland, police said.
Flames leaping 20 metres high have raced through thick pine forest since the fire broke out on Sunday evening, reaching the St Pan deleimon monastery, the Pendeli Hospital and singeing the gardens of homes.
"It is certainly arson. The fire could not possibly start on its own in thick forest in the middle of the night," said Mr Stamatis Kriem adis, the mayor of the village of Stamata, close to where the fire started.
The fire brigade closed off the Pendeli road, connecting Athens with its northern coastal resorts, and appealed to the public to avoid the area.
Police said only three fire engines, aided by local community water trucks, fire-fighting planes and volunteers were battling the blaze, which cast a dark brown cloud over Athens.
The village of Rapendossa near Stamata was evacuated and was surrounded by flames. Fire-fighters also evacuated the Pendeli state hospital as a precaution. The St Pandeleimon monastery was evacuated shortly before it was cut off by the fire. Some of the nuns were carried off by force after refusing to abandon it, police said.
Greece has been plagued by scores of forest fires, some around Athens, where three firemen and a volunteer were burned to death in an effort to stop the blaze from reaching a busy Athens suburb last month.
Last week, an Athens public prosecutor ordered an investigation into the spate of forest fires that have razed thousands of acres of land around Greece in the past two months. The investigation will focus on allegations that arsonists were setting the fires to make space for construction development.