Luxury yacht crew charged for setting off fireworks that sparked Greek wildfire

NEWS WIRES

24 June 2024 at 3:19 am·1-min read

Greek prosecutors on Sunday charged 13 crew members of a luxury yacht accused of setting off fireworks that caused a major wildfire on an island near Athens, media reports said.

The crew will go on trial Wednesday on charges of causing a criminal fire, the ERT public broadcaster said.

A new surge in wildfires has put a spotlight on the case, and under recently toughened legislation the crew could be jailed for up to 20 years and fined up to 200,000 euros ($214,000).

The crew denied the charges, and prosecutors will not pursue charges against the 17 Kazakh passengers who were on the yacht on Friday night when the fireworks were set off, ERT said.

Some of the fireworks landed on the island of Hydra, starting a blaze that burned about 30 hectares (75 acres) of pine forest, according to the civil protection service.

The captain of a nearby ship who saw the fireworks being set off was questioned at Sunday's hearing, reports said.

Amid fierce winds and rising temperature, dozens of wildfires have left at least one dead and already scarred resorts and the Greek countryside at the start of the summer season.

The civil protection service has called for extreme vigilance because the risk of fires was "very high", particularly in the Attica region, the Peloponnese peninsula and in central Greece.

(AFP)

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