Galery

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Culprits of the fire on the island of Samos turned out to be a family of beekeepers and their friend. The joint investigation of the local authorities and the island's fire brigade found out that the cause of the fire that burst out on Monday evening was a spark from the beekeepers’ device for smoking hives. The final assessment of the unintentional arson is that 10,000 acres of farmland and forests burned in less than two days. Ironically, according the information released in the Greek media, beekeeping family's son worked as a seasonal firefighter on the island.
 
The fire started near the road between the villages of Kabu and Votsalakya. Strong winds and their changing direction have given rise to the immediate expansion of the firestorm. It forced local authorities in the weekday’s night to evacuate tourists and residents of the villages near the fire. Regardless of the final evacuation measure, eyewitnesses stated that residential buildings and tourist sites were not threatened by the fire. According to Giannis Panagiotis –  chairman of the Union of owners of hotels on the island of Samos – evacuation would not be necessary if more than two helicopters for suppression of the natural disaster were sent to the island at the beginning of the fire. The state of emergency order on the island of Samos is withdrawn and the tourists have already been returned back in the hotel complexes and seaside hotels.

At the same time, the prosecutor’s office on the island of Samos expects the official confessions of three farmers from the island who were arrested Saturday evening on charges of intentional arson last week. The fire, for which they are accused, unleashed on the island of Samos in late July in Kokari region. It burned a large area of meadows and grass. The three defendants are aged between 27 and 31 years. One of them confessed his participation in the arson but the other two have not given evidence yet. According to preliminary information, the three farmers have set the fire in the meadows of the Kokari area “for fun” after a long booze-up, said the Greek edition Theme. One of the arrested pyromaniacs is well known to local authorities. He already has a conviction for intentional arson in 2000.