Seven killed and dozens injured in Greece storm

Two children were among seven people killed and more than 100 injured when a powerful storm hit northern Greece.

Wednesday night’s storm in the northern Halkidiki peninsula ripped up trees and power pylons, overturned vehicles and left swathes of debris across the coast.

Police said around 140 people were injured, most of them lightly, in Wednesday’s storm. Paramedics treated 65 of the injured.

Government spokesman Stelios Petsas said 23 people remained in hospital on Thursday, including one woman in a critical condition in intensive care.

Six of the dead were tourists – two each from Russia, the Czech Republic and Romania.

A body found at sea was identified as that of a missing fisherman. The body of the 62-year-old was located by an air force helicopter 6.8 nautical miles off the coast.

A state of emergency was declared in the region, a three-finger peninsula near the northern city of Thessaloniki popular with tourists in the summer.

Two of those who died were killed when high winds overturned their vehicle, while an eight-year-old boy and his mother were killed when an outdoor restaurant’s lean-to roof collapsed. Another two were killed by falling trees.

Crews were working to restore power that was knocked out to 80% of the area, while the fire department said it had received more than 1,200 requests for assistance, including for rescues, to cut fallen trees and pump water from flooded basements.

The coast guard said patrol boats were searching for a 62-year-old fisherman missing off Halkidiki’s coast since Wednesday night, after he took his fishing boat out in the afternoon before the storm struck.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who was elected on Sunday and just formed his government, appointed Public Order Minister Michalis Chrisochoidis to head the response effort while the army was assisting repair crews.