Hotel fire near monastic sanctuary in Greece leaves 1 dead, 11 hospitalized

THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — A fire at a hotel Monday left its owner dead and 11 people hospitalized near the centuries-old monasteries at Meteora in central Greece.

The three-story hotel in Kalambaka, a town just outside Meteora, suffered extensive damage, according to fire service officials. Emergency crews rescued 26 people, including those hospitalized, with several lifted off balconies using crane equipment.

The hotel’s 55-year-old owner died from injuries sustained after falling from a balcony before firefighters arrived. Costas Papapoulios, the head of the region’s hoteliers association, said the survivors were being taken to other nearby hotels at the expense of the association and the local government. “The owner was trying to help guests and he must have got trapped,” Papapoulios told The Associated Press. “It’s not clear whether he jumped from the balcony to escape from the flames or was overwhelmed by the smoke and fell.”

The hotel is used mostly by people visiting Meteora, a UNESCO World Heritage site featuring 24 Orthodox Christian monasteries built some 600 years ago on top of sheer rock formations reaching up to 550 meters (1,800 feet) from the ground. Some 350 kilometers (220 miles) north of Athens, the site is a popular short-break destination. Witnesses of the fire described chaotic scenes that occurred shortly after dawn on Monday, with some residents trying to use bed sheets to climb down from balconies. The fire gutted much of the hotel’s interior and blackened the walls and ceilings of rooms, and hallways of the building, where firefighters entered during the rescue.

Four children were among those injured who were all taken to a hospital in the nearby city of Trikala. The Fire Service said 34 firefighters with 12 vehicles responded to the blaze, the cause of which was not immediately clear.

By COSTAS KANTOURIS
Associated Press