Aid from European countries will arrive directly in Greece to assist in the work of extinguishing the large fires that are burning the country, at the request of Greece in the European Support Mechanism.

So far, France, Romania and Switzerland have responded. Romania sends 112 firefighters along with vehicles, Switzerland 3 firefighting helicopters and France 2 canadair aircraft.

At the same time, 2 Swedish helicopters are already operating in our country, 80 French firefighters and help has been sent from Cyprus. Greece also asked for help from Russia and Israel.

It is recalled that Greece is leasing from Russia a Beriev aircraft which, although it has contributed significantly to the extinguishing efforts, was forced to remain on the ground all Thursday due to engine damage and will reportedly continue air operations from Friday morning.

In the last few hours many settlements have been evacuated and dozens of houses have been engulfed in flames. The smoke has literally covered all of Greek capital of Athens.

The night is very difficult in Attica since the fire was not brought under control before 21:00 and fire planes cannot operate in night time and they are expected to start operating from 6:30 a.m

At the same time, large fires are also raging in Mani, Lake (Evia) and other parts of the country. Fire brigades and volunteers are making efforts to bring all fronts under control and are doing everything they can to keep human lives from being endangered.