Family's cruise blaze scare
A family from the Black Country told how their cruise ship off the coast of Greece had been "swathed in clouds of rancid smoke" from burning woodland today as wild fires continue to ravage the countryside, leaving at least 63 dead.
The smell of the smoke initially sparked fears among some of the 1,500 passengers on board that the ship itself had caught fire.
John Hackney, pictured, a graphic artist from Hagley, is on board the cruise liner Ocean Village with his wife and two children. They were woken by the smell of burning wood filling the ship's corridors.
"We are nine miles off the coast near Olympia but the ship was swathed in clouds of rancid smoke this morning," he said. "It got into the air conditioning and some passengers were waking up and getting hold of the crew because they thought the ship had caught fire. The captain Jon Hobb told me this morning that it had looked like sea fog surrounding the ship. But you can tell from the rancid smell that it is woodsmoke. We had been due to stop off at Katakolon on the coast to visit Olympia, which is the traditional home of the Olympic Games.
"But the fires are so severe that we have been diverted to the island of Zakynthos. We are just hoping that the fires don't prevent us flying home from Athens airport later this week."
The Ocean Village is cruising the Eastern Mediterranean and is currently off the coast of the Peloponnese, the area of Greece worst hit by the fires. Firefighters have sent helicopters and buses to evacuate more than two dozen villages.
From the northern border with Albania to the southern island of Crete, fires have ravaged forests and farmland. Residents are used hoses, buckets and tin cans in desperate attempts to save their homes and livelihoods. The destruction has been so extensive that authorities say they had no way of knowing how much has burned or how many people are injured. Fuelled by strong winds and parched terrain, the fires have engulfed villages, forests and farmland and scorched woodland around Ancient Olympia.
New blazes broke out faster than others could be brought under control, leaving behind a devastated landscape of blackened tree trunks, gutted houses and charred animal carcasses.
The government said arson might have been the cause and several people have been arrested.
In the past, unscrupulous developers have been blamed for setting fires to get round laws that do not allow construction on forest land.
