Rafina

Twenty local government and state officials have been charged with misdemeanours (because the crimes were attributed to negligence and not malice) connected to the management of the Mati wildfire, in which 100 people lost their lives.

Following seven months of investigations into the deadly fires that killed 100 people and destroyed parts of eastern Attica last July, prosecutors on Tuesday brought charges of negligent arson, negligent manslaughter and grievous bodily harm through negligence against 20 current and former state officials.

Weather problems persist in central and southern Greece on Friday, as the strong winds are keeping ferries docked and snowfall has blocked a number of roads in various regions.

No ferries sail out of the Attica ports of Piraeus, Rafina and Lavrio due to gale-force winds, except for the large ferries to Aigina and Poros islands in the Saronikos Gulf.

All construction is being suspended along key roads in the eastern Attica towns of Rafina and Mati that were affected by last summer's deadly fires, the Environment Ministry has decided.

The Environment Ministry has given the go-ahead for the construction of a large biological waste treatment facility and sewage network which will serve the municipalities of Rafina-Pikermi and Spata-Artemida in eastern Attica.

The cancellation Thursday of a scheduled meeting in Athens between Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios and Archbishop Ieronymos has fuelled speculation about a rift between the two.

Church of Greece officials said the meeting, originally scheduled for Friday, was canceled due to Ieronymos's work obligations ahead of the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece, also on Friday.

A man takes a photograph during bad weather at the port of Rafina, east of Athens, on Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018. Severe weather warnings remain in effect around Greece, halting ferry services and prompting school closures, and in Turkey's west. AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis

A car drives through seawater from crashing waves on the road during bad weather at the port of Rafina, east of Athens, on Thursday. Severe weather warnings remain in effect around Greece, halting ferry services and prompting school closures. [Thanassis Stavrakis/AP]

The relatives of eight people who perished in last month's wildfire in Mati, east of Athens, have filed a lawsuit against high-ranking state officials, accusing them of criminal negligence.

Three beachgoers died at sea on Tuesday and Monday in Attica, Thessaloniki and Halkidiki, authorities said.

More specifically, the body of a 76-year-old woman was recovered early on Tuesday morning in the coastal area of Rafina in eastern Attica.

On Monday afternoon, the body of a man was found in the sea off a beach in Peraia in Thessaloniki.