Vilia

The residents of four parts of Dervenohoria in Viotia, northwest of Athens, were ordered to evacuate towards the West Attica town of Mandra on Tuesday as a wildfire started to approach homes and thick smoke filled the air.

Panorama, Pournari, Palaiohori and Agios Sotiras were being evacuated, as the blaze also crossed regional lines into Attica, heading towards Vilia and Oinoi.

The Romanian military firefighters currently on mission in Greece have ensured, throughout Tuesday, until the early hours of Wednesday, protection against the wildfires for the Profitis Ilias Monastery in the area of Vilia. They deployed to the area with a fire engine, a cistern, an offroad vehicle, an utility terrain vehicle (UTV), and a drone.

Romanian military firefighters on mission in Greece acted on Monday to limit the spread of flames in the Vilia area, as well as to maintain a line of protection between the fire front and the unaffected areas. "Moreover, at the request of the Greek authorities, the Romanian fire brigades supplied the fire trucks of their Greek colleagues.

The fire in Vilia remains uncontrolled, while the settlement is threatened by the flames. An evacuation order is expected from minute to minute, although no message has been sent from the emergency number 112, so far. According to channel Star, 4 or 5 helicopters are currently operating at the site, while residents call for reinforcements of the air force.

The situation because of the big fire in the area of ​​Vilia is dramatic. At night five more settlements were evacuated (Thea, Panorama, Paleochori, Paleokoundoura and Agia Sotira) and the nursing home "Panagia Faneromeni", as the flames that spread on a large front approached residential areas burning dense and inaccessible virgin pine forest on Mount Patera.

Cars are seen parked outside the Ostrakina Ski Center on Mount Mainalo in the northern Peloponnese on Thursday. Many parts of Greece have seen heavy snow, rain and freezing temperatures over the past few days, with the villages of Vilia, Erythres and Oinoi in western Attica snowbound and flooding in Karystos on Evia. [Panagiotis Bougiotis/ANA-MPA]

More than 1 tonne of raw cannabis was seized by the port authorities in Gytheio, southern Greece. Cannabis has been found aboard a Delaware-flagged yacht called "My Dream," sailing in Lakonia Bay, according to BGNES.

Two foreign nationals, aged 42 and 28, were arrested.

Port authorities in Gytheio, southern Greece, confiscated 1.067 tons of unprocessed cannabis that was found on board a Delaware-flagged yacht called My Dream sailing in the Gulf of Laconia on Wednesday morning.
According to authorities, two foreign nationals, aged 42 and 28, were arrested.

Two suspects, a 35-year-old man from Britain and a 36-year-old woman from Canada, have been arrested in Vilia, in western Attica for alleged involvement in drug trafficking, police said on Friday.

Snowfall and low temperatures have returned to Athens on Wednesday, as a new wave of adverse weather conditions has hit the country.