A Cypriot volunteer cries next to a burnt truck in the Cypriot village of Evrychou in the Troodos mountain area on June 20, 2016 during a forest fire.
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The Israeli army said Monday that it was sending additional firefighting and cargo aircrafts to a blaze in Cyprus, returning the neighboring island’s helping hand when the Jewish state suffered a devastating forest fire in 2010.
The fire is one of the worst in Cyprus in recent years and coincided with the first heatwave of the year that turned the forest into tinderbox.
Officials said optimism the fire can soon be brought under control is tempered by the hard terrain, high temperatures and shifting winds that are making firefighting efforts hard.
The two firefighters were killed when a water tanker overturned.
It was the first fatality among firefighters reported in years in Cyprus, which has frequent brush fires during its hot summer months but on a considerably smaller scale. “We’re doing all we can to bring the fire under control”, said Anastasiades after chairing a meeting of top Fire Service, Police and Interior Ministry officials.
During a visit to the area on Monday, he described the devastation as “tragic”.
France and Italy were the latest countries to send planes to assist more than 300 firefighters attempting to put out the blazes which have ran amok as the island swelters under temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).
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Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci called Anastasiades, offering assistance. The island was split along ethnic lines following a Turkish military intervention in 1974 triggered by a brief Greek inspired coup and decades-long ethnic clashes.
