Turkey has closed the Dardanelles Strait, the only access for ships to the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea due to the advance of the fires, while Greece continues to fight against the advance of the flames in various parts of the north of the country, where the authorities They found yesterday 27 charred bodies of migrants and asylum seekers.

In Turkey, the Ministry of Transport announced the closure of the strait on Tuesday night due to the advance of fires in the province of Çannakale, in the west of the country.

The authorities pointed out that the closure of the canal, through which more than a hundred boats and ships pass every day, is for security reasons due to the smoke released by the fires, but also to facilitate the work of the planes that collect water to put out the fires. spotlights in the area.

The fire, which started on Tuesday morning, is advancing uncontrollably due to wind gusts of up to 70 kilometers per hour and has already burned more than 1,500 hectares.

So far, 1,200 people and hundreds of animals have been evacuated from nine affected towns.

The authorities have recommended that the surrounding population pay attention to the notices posted on television in case there is a change in the direction of the wind and the fire advances in other areas.

At least 48 people have been treated in hospitals in the region for smoke poisoning, although the health minister, Fahrettin Koca, rules out that there are serious injuries.

Another thirty sick and patients in intensive care units have been evacuated from the Çannakale state hospital as a precaution.

The emergency services have deployed 26 helicopters, eight planes and 300 construction machines to try to stop the spread of the flames.

In Greece, the fire continues out of control in Evros, a border region with Turkey, where more than 15 outbreaks have merged into two large fires.

Athens woke up this Wednesday with a strong smell of burning and a thick black smoke covering its sky.

“I have never seen such extreme conditions in 32 years of service,” said the Greek fire chief, Yorgos Purnaras, in turn. Efe agency.

The Immigration Minister, Dimitris Kairos, confirmed last night that the 27 charred bodies that appeared near the Dadia forest are migrants or asylum seekers.

He pointed out that all the deceased were men and among them were two children. The region affected by the fires is part of one of the routes of migrants and asylum seekers who cross overland from Turkey to Greece.

“They were all found in groups of two or three at a distance of five hundred meters, apparently while they were trying to escape,” Pavlos Pavlidi, the forensic examiner who examined the bodies, told the Greek press.

The Greek authorities have not yet confirmed the appearance of another eight bodies during the day on Tuesday.

For his part, the Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection of Greece, Vassilis Kikilias, expressed his condolences for the death of the migrants for “not fleeing the area despite evacuation notices.”.

“This is an unprecedented situation. This summer is the worst since meteorological data was collected,” he added at a press conference.

The minister defended the government’s management of the 300 fires declared throughout the country since Saturday, and which until yesterday had already devastated more than 43,000 hectares.

Thus, for example, he stated that the aerial means reached the focus that appeared in the Parnitha Natural Park, north of Athens, in just four minutes. However, he recognized that despite the improvements applied in Civil Protection since 2019, the result is not what the Government would like.

“Much remains to be done to more effectively manage the situations that will arise from the climate crisis,” stressed the minister, who opined that there is no room for “petty partisan debates” and that “the time will soon come for public debate and harsh criticism and self-criticism.”

Following the fire in Evros, the Supreme Court prosecutor, Georgia Adeilini, asked the Alexandroupoli prosecutor’s office for an investigation to identify evidence for possible arson in the region, while also requesting an investigation for violence against immigrants, according to the Greek daily Kathimerini.

On the other hand, another big fire is out of control in the Parnes region north of Athens. The emergency services tried this Wednesday morning to prevent the flames from reaching the national park located on Mount Parnés, but the authorities announced mid-morning that the fire had spread in the area.

In the same region, two people have been arrested today for negligence after having burned dry herbs in the middle of the fire emergency. Yesterday four other people were arrested in the same region.

The flames are also advancing in the Peloponnese region, where 700 people were evacuated this morning in the city of Amigdaleza.

Greece suffered serious fires during the month of July, when the flames on the island of Rhodes forced the authorities to evacuate more than 20,000 tourists.