YEREVAN, JULY 24, ARMENPRESS. Armenian emergency services are ready to assist Greece in tackling the wildfires in case the latter requests assistance, colonel Hovhannes Khangeldyan – director of the National Center For Crisis Management of the Ministry of Emergency Situations – said at a press conference today.

“Armenia hasn’t yet received an official request. The Armenian ministry of emergency situations is a member of GDACS (Global Disaster Alerting and Coordination System), and within the framework of cooperation we are receiving assistance requests. Armenia is ready to assist within its powers in case of receiving a request,” he said.

At least 50 people have died and 156 have been injured in forest fires raging near Athens, the Greek Civil Protection Agency said on Tuesday.

Earlier the Greek government put the death toll at 20.

According to ERT, many of the injured are in critical condition.

More than 700 have been rescued from beaches, where people had fled from the wildfires. Firefighters were able to contain only a part of the raging fires in the morning of July 24. Strong winds, which caused the fire to spread rapidly, have calmed down. Firefighting aircraft have been deployed to the area.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan