Authorities are maintaining an exclusion zone around an air force base in central Greece where wildfires triggered powerful explosions at an ammunition depot.
The blasts late on Thursday at the 111th combat wing base facilities — among the largest in the country — shattered windows in nearby towns and prompted an evacuation of more than 2,000 people while fighter jets nearby were moved to another base.
A civilian traffic ban and evacuation order remains in effect within a two-mile radius of the blast site.
Fuelled by successive heatwaves and strong gusts of wind, wildfires have raged around Greece and other Mediterranean countries over the past two weeks, scorching dozens of square miles of land outside Athens, on the island of Rhodes and elsewhere.
The ammunition depot blasts were broadcast live on local television reports, with one showing a ground-shaking fireball emerging from a mountainous area.
After the evacuations were ordered, residents were ushered on to private boats mobilised by the coastguard and taken to a conference centre in Volos, some 12.5 miles from the weapons depot.
A drop in temperatures and calmer winds assisted firefighters early on Friday and all major fires were contained at 12pm local time (10am GMT), fire service officials said.
