Greece, UK and Israel help tackle deadly forest fire in Cyprus

The Cyprus Mail newspaper reported Saturday that no residential areas were threatened by the blaze in the Argaka area of Paphos fanned by strong winds and scorchingly high temperatures.

Aircrafts from Greece, the United Kingdom and Israel have joined efforts to tackle what is one of the country’s largest forest fires in years.

Aircraft from Italy and France are also on their way to the island. A third was in a critical condition after a fire truck plunged down a ravine.

Five Israeli firefighting aircraft were deployed on Sunday and Monday to help the overwhelmed government of Cyprus extinguish a massive forest fire.

Cyprus had requested the additional aircraft and some 80 tons of fire-suppressing material from its European Union partners.

Turkey, which Cyprus has been at loggerheads with for decades, also offered aid, the state-run Cyprus News Agency said.

He said 66 firefighting vehicles and more than 300 people from the island’s Fire Service, Forestry Department, as well as volunteers have been mobilized to fight the blaze that has covered the area with thick plumes of smoke.

“Last night I ordered that three of our firefighting aircraft, out of our fleet of 13 or 14, be sent to help them, and the planes are now in Cyprus”. The blaze coincided with a heatwave which pushed temperatures up to 42 degrees centigrade (108 Fahrenheit), creating tinderbox conditions. “They are not in danger, we are protecting them”, fire brigade spokesman Leonidas Leonidou told Reuters.

President Nicos Anastasiades cancelled a scheduled meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci on Tuesday so that he could visit firefighters at the scene.

A Turkish invasion in the immediate aftermath of a 1974 coup aiming to unite Cyprus with Greece split the island into a breakaway Turkish Cypriot north and an internationally recognized Greek Cypriot south. Only Turkey recognizes a Turkish Cypriot declaration of independence and maintains more than 35,000 troops in the north.