On a charred migrant trail, Greek firefighters find 18 bodies

A view shows destroyed corral where the bodies of eighteen people, who authorities believe they were migrants, were found following a wildfire, near the village of Avantas in the region of Evros, Greece, August 23, 2023. REUTERS/Alexandros Avramidis

EVROS, Greece/ATHENS (Reuters) - In the charred Greek landscape close to the border with Turkey, a group of blackened corpses lay amid the ashes of what was once a lush forest that offered migrants the perfect cover to cross into the European Union. Two of 18 dead were children.

The group of presumed migrants were found near the village of Avantas in northeastern Greece where a fierce wildfire swept with devastating speed, one of hundreds across the country fuelled by high temperatures and whipped up by gale force winds.