A Greek prosecutor has pressed criminal charges against the 13-strong crew of a luxury superyacht for firing fireworks over the popular holiday island of Hydra, causing a massive forest fire and razing the island’s only pine forest.
If intent is established, according to a local prosecutor handling the case, then the accused – all Greek nationals – may each face up to 20 years in prison and stiff fines of 200,000 euros.
Judicial sources said all of the crew members had requested a 48-hour extension to testify before a prosecutor at the port city of Pireaus. They remain in custody and the luxury 176-ft, triple deck, Persefoni I, confiscated by authorities.
Fire Brigade officials leading the investigation said the fire was sparked late Friday when crew members fired unknown numbers of flares to entertain their guests, purported to be from Kazakhstan. Their whereabouts remained unknown.
The crew members’ prosecution marks a litmus test for the centre-right government and stiff legislation it introduced earlier this year after 20 people were killed last summer in a rash of wildfires that gripped Greece – the worst in recent memory.
“We changed the laws,” said Public Order Minister Vassilis Kikilias on Sunday, “to punish those who set fires, leading to the loss of life or causing destruction to the environment.”
He said 300 stremmas (74 acres) of lush pine forest on Hydra was razed as a response to what he called the crews “reckless behaviour.”
Local on the island also were outraged,
"We are indignant that some people so irresponsibly throw fireworks into a pine forest," Hydra's mayor, Giorgos Koukoudakis, told Greek broadcaster ERT. Social media, also, flooded with condemnations with one person writing: "Rich people with more money than brains."
Greece has been on high alert for wildfires since Tuesday, and authorities are bracing for a difficult summer as dry conditions, strong winds and high temperatures are set to continue.
On Friday, a 55-year-old volunteer firefighter died from injuries he sustained battling a fire in the southern region of Ilia on the Peloponnese peninsula.
Summer wildfires are common in Greece and authorities here have linked the rise in number to the intensity of extreme weather events, including heatwaves, to climate change.
“Last year this year,” said Nikos Patras of the country’s national Fire Brigade Service, “we were dealing with torrential rains. This year, we are dealing with premature heatwaves.”
“Our strategy and rapid-reaction planning is constantly having to adjust.”
Arson, however, remains acute across the country with at least 79 people arrested last August over deadly wildfires.
The 13 crew members will answer to the charges levelled against them on Wednesday.