NICOSIA, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- Cyprus sent 60 firefighters to help in combating fires which are raging out of control in several areas of the country, including some popular tourist islands.
The firefighters, along with some vehicles, were flown to Greece by transport planes of the Greek Airforce.
Greece appealed to the European Union for help in fighting the fires which have been raging for several days near Athens and also in the Peloponnese.
A spokeswoman said Greece asked European countries to send mainly firefighting aircraft.
Authorities in Athens have said that some of the fires were caused by high tension electric wires passing through forests, but consider most others to be the act of arsonists and have arrest some suspects.