BURNING HELL

Infernos fuelled by record heat threaten Athens

- NADA FARHOUD

THE skies over Athens take on a sinister orange glow as forest fires rage out of control on the edge of the Greek capital.

The Parthenon stood out starkly yesterday as evacuation orders were triggered.

Flames towered more than 80ft as the blazes, which started on Sunday, ravaged tinder-dry pine forests north of the city.

Strong winds hampered firefighters and water-dropping planes.

One man was seen in Dione, to the east of Athens, preparing to flee in his car as another covered his face against the smoke. One resident of Dione held her cat in a cage as she was evacuated.

Local Spyros Gorilas, said: "The wind would go in one direction and then in the other. The smoke was suffocating. You couldn't see. Your eyes teared up. You couldn't breathe. Even the helicopter that dropped water, you couldn't see it.