Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis cut short his official stay in Brussels for the EU-CELAC summit and returned to Athens on Tuesday, where he was briefed over ongoing operations to contain the several wildfires that erupted over the past 48 hours southeast of greater Athens and a handful of sites in southern Greece. Upon arriving at the civil protection headquarters, he was briefed on the wildfire front at Dervenochoria settlement (northwest of Athens) and firefighting operations in the quasi-industrial Thriasio plain, west of Athens.
Meanwhile, vehicle traffic on both the new and old Athens-Corinth highways was closed by police in the late afternoon on Tuesday due to a front of wildfires affecting the Corinth Gulf resort town of Loutraki.
Meanwhile, water-dropping airplanes were requested and are expected to arrive from Italy and France to within the day, Greek authorities announced.
The request was made by Athens through rescEU, the European initiative of voluntary assistance between EU member-states amid natural disasters. Italy and France have responded, dispatching two CL-415 aircraft each.
