Two people who died in a wildfire near the Greek port city of Thessaloniki are thought to be a 66-year-old man and his 12-year-old son, Greek media reported on Wednesday.
The fire erupted in low vegetation before being fanned by strong winds and spreading to a pine forest and homes in Lete, a town of some 4,000 residents some 20 kilometres north-east of Thessaloniki.
The residents were instructed to leave the town by SMS alert on their mobile phones. Firefighters found the bodies of the man and the boy. The cause of the fire is unknown.
Greece has not seen the heatwave conditions recently experienced in other parts of Europe, and the wildfire hazard is currently within bounds, the civil protection authority says. Nevertheless, strong winds typical at this time of year can fan small fires into major blazes and hamper firefighting.
