GREECE: SMOG, A FACTORY FIRE, A GARBAGE STRIKE AND A HEATWAVE HEAP MISERY ON ATHENS

Record ID: 342205

  • Title: GREECE: SMOG, A FACTORY FIRE, A GARBAGE STRIKE AND A HEATWAVE HEAP MISERY ON ATHENS
  • Date: 8th July 2000
  • Summary: ATHENS, GREECE (JULY 6, 2000) (REUTERS) 1. GV HUGE STACK OF BLACK SMOKE BILLOWING INTO THE SKY 0.06 2. SLV FIRE ENGINES ATTEND TOY FACTORY ON FIRE 0.11 3. SLV FIREMEN BATTLING BLAZE, FLAMES AND SMOKE; SMOKE RISING FROM THE FACTORY BUILDING AND FLOWING OVER OTHER BUILDINGS (14 SHOTS) 1.31 METAMORPHOSEOS VILLAGE, NEAR KALAMATA, GREECE (JULY 6, 2000) (REUTERS) 4. LV FIRE BLAZING IN FIELDS; FIREMEN DOUSING FIRE WITH HOSES AROUND MILL IN FIELDS (6 SHOTS) 2.12 5. SCU PAN DEAD RABBITS (DIED OF ASPHYXIATION) ON A FARM (3 SHOTS) 2.33 6. SLV FIRE ENCIRCLING HOUSE AND BURNING IN THE FARMLAND 2.47 7. (SOUDNBITE) (GREEK) LOCAL FIREMAN SAYING: "It's still dangerous, the fire is still out of control. But we have managed to save the villages. The farmlands however have been destroyed." 2.57 8. AV FIRE-FIGHTING PLANES DROPPING WATER ON FIRE (3 SHOTS) 3.18 9. SLV PAN FARMLAND ON FIRE 3.27 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 23rd July 2000 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ATHENS AND METAMORPHOSEOS VILLAGE, NEAR KALAMATA, GREECE
  • Country: Greece
  • Reuters ID: LVABPF1F9MLS8YELEMHDXQM9VC0H
  • Story Text: Smog, a factory fire and a garbage strike have heaped
    misery on Athens as it sweltered for a third day in a heatwave
    that has killed three people.

    The weather service said temperatures on Thursday (July
    6) had reached 44.4 degrees Celsius in the Greek capital, with
    no hope of immediate respite from hot air flowing north from
    the Sahara Desert.

    Adding to the suffocating atmosphere, Athens skies were
    covered for hours by thick black smoke from a fire at a toy
    factory in the Egaleo area.

    About 70 firefighters battled to stop flames from reaching
    nearby businesses, including a glass factory using natural
    gas. All workers were evacuated but the toy factory owned by
    the Babyland company was burnt to the ground.

    A strike at the main waste dump near Athens by workers,
    who are staging rolling work stoppages to demand permanent
    contracts, posed a further threat to the atmosphere.

    The government has urged the public to stay indoors and
    avoid heavy activity, clothing and food. An emergency plan
    went into effect on Monday, opening up air-conditioned
    buildings to the public and ordering beaches to stay open till
    late.

    An elderly man was found dead on an Athens street and
    emergency services attributed his death to heat stroke, the
    semi-official Athens News Agency reported.

    Health ministry officials said a man and woman in their
    fifties had also died of heat stroke in the northern Greek
    town of Ioannina late on Wednesday.

    Dozens more were rushed to hospital with heart and
    respiratory problems and increased pollution was expected to
    cause more health problems.

    Thousands of city-dwellers flocked to the coast while
    others tried to cool off in front of air conditioners and fans
    at home.

    On the southern Peloponnese peninsula near the town of
    Kalamata fires burned out of control on Thursday, consuming
    hundreds of acres of agricultural land and coming dangerously
    close to homes.

    One house and the farmland surrounding it were caught in
    the blaze and some of the animals died of asphyxiation.

    The National Meteorological Service said that although
    Friday was expected to be a few degrees cooler, the weather
    would not change substantially before Monday.


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