Continuous and out of control forest fires - in Turkey and Greece - forced thousands to flee by land and sea, and killed two people in Greece and 8 in Turkey, amid Greek warnings that the worst was yet to come.

The Greek and Turkish authorities have been trying to control one fire after another for a week, in light of the worst heat wave sweeping the region in decades, a disaster that climate experts have linked to bad weather, which has become more frequent due to climate changes.

In Greece, civil protection chief Nikos Hardalias said firefighters faced "unprecedented and extremely dangerous" fires;

They responded to 154 fires yesterday, Friday, and 64 fires are still burning in since last night.

Evacuation orders were issued for dozens of villages on the mainland and the nearby island of Evia, as well as communities on the edge of forests in the capital, Athens, where dozens of homes and businesses were destroyed or damaged. Authorities have not been able to provide detailed figures yet.

Several warehouses and industrial facilities were set ablaze along the highway between Athens and the north of Thessaloniki, and there were several explosions.

In warnings - via SMS - the government called on residents in Malakasa and Svendali to leave the area.

Security personnel moved from house to house to make sure everyone left.

Further evacuations were announced in Oropos, a town about 25 kilometers north of Athens.

In the village of Limni - located on the island of Evia - residents and vacationers were urged to rush to the port and wait for departure after all other means of escape were cut off by fire.

The coast guard said that two boats transported about 1,000 people, and another one will remain in Limni to receive the arrivals at a later time.

Earlier, the Coast Guard evacuated about 700 people from other parts of the island, using patrol ships, fishing boats and other private vessels.

A Coast Guard vessel also rescued 10 people who were trapped ashore by other fires near the town of Gythio in the southern Peloponnese region.

Speaking about the naval evacuation, Sotiris Danikas, head of the coast guard in Edipsos in Evia, said: "We are talking about the end of the world, and I don't know how to describe it."

Firefighting planes try to contain forest fires in Mugla (European)

Turkey

In Turkey, evacuations were carried out on Friday in 5 Turkish provinces, including hot tourist areas in Antalya and Mugla, according to NTV.

Yesterday, authorities evacuated 6 other neighborhoods near the town of Milas in Mugla province, with a forest fire fanned by winds raging for about 5 km.

Two other neighborhoods were also evacuated as a precaution later, as another fire spread from Yatagan district - in Mugla in the southwestern Aegean region - towards the edge of the neighboring Aydin province, and officials said that at least 36,000 people were evacuated to safety in Mugla Province alone. .

The excavators set up firewalls to keep out the flames from the Yenikoy power plant, the second such facility under threat in the region.

Forest fires near the tourist resort of Marmaris in Mugla have been largely contained, while major fires in neighboring Antalya province were brought under control on Friday afternoon.