Photo taken July 4, 2021. It shows vehicles that were destroyed at Ora village, on the southern slopes the Troodos Mountains in Cyprus.Cypriot firefighters said Monday that they had put out the worst fire in Cyprus history, which decimated scores of homes and killed four people.The massive fire was put out by water-bombing aircrafts from Israel and Greece, as well as British aircraft from British bases on the Mediterranean island. It blackened 55 kilometres (21 miles) of Troodos Mountains.Monday's statement by the Cyprus Forestry Department was that "the fire that broke off on Saturday... was under complete control today" at 8:00 AM (0500 GMT).Four Egyptian farm labourers in their 20s and 30s died trying to flee the flames after their car fell into a ravine.Authorities reported that the wildfire was the worst since 1960 when the Republic of Cyprus was founded. It destroyed 50 homes and damaged power lines, forcing the evacuation of 10 villages.Akis Giorgiou (45), from Arakapas, said, "Everything was an absolute nightmare and pure hell there, the village was completely surrounded by fire."Strong winds and heatwaves exacerbated the fire and created a thick cloud of smoke visible from both sea and the Troodos mountain range.The forestry department stated that more than 600 personnel from the army and emergency services were involved in fighting the fire, as well as 70 fire trucks and a dozen helicopters.As a huge fire rages on Cyprus' Mediterranean island, a firefighter fights the flames in a forest along the slopes of the Throodos Mountain chain."A tragedy"According to the department, firefighters were still present in large numbers Monday near Limassol's Arakapas village, to combat any new outbreaks.Reporters from AFP had witnessed thick, gnarled trunks that belonged to ancient olive trees being reduced to smouldering stumps with grey ash replacing the yellowed scrub.A farmer aged 67 was taken into custody and held on suspicion that he had unintentionally set the huge blaze while burning stubble. He denied this charge.Police claimed that an eyewitness saw him leave Arakapas in the car he was driving at the time the fire started. He could be charged with recklessly causing the deaths of four people.Interior Minister Nicos Nouris stated that the bodies of the four Egyptians were found in the Larnaca village outside Odos.Arakapas and Troodos mountains are located on the Cyprus map.A Spanish Air Tractor firefighting aircraft dumps water on the Troodos mountain slopes near Agioi Vavatsinias Village as a major fire continues on the Mediterranean island, Cyprus on July 4, 2021.According to the forestry department, the fire destroyed 55 kilometres (21 miles) of forest land and farmland in Cyprus.The four bodies of the burned-out vehicle were found at the bottom a ravine. They were approximately 600 meters (yards) away.They claimed to be farm workers from North Africa, according to the Egyptian government. Nicosia however pledged in a tweet that she would "stand by victims' families... and offer every support.""It's a tragedy," President Nicos Anastasiades tweeted on Sunday.The fire was described by him as the most devastating event since 1974 when the island was split after Turkey took its northern third.Continue reading Firefighters battle forest fires near Athens2021 AFP
