ATHENS, August 11. /TASS/. Russia’s Il-76 plane, which arrived to Greece late on Tuesday, will join the effort to extinguish wildfires in the country shortly after sunrise on Wednesday, a Greek official who is welcoming Russian planes told reporters at Athens International Airport.
The first Il-76 plane has already landed in Athens. More are expected to arrive later.
"The plane will start extinguishing fires right after sunrise. Water tankers will arrive shortly, the plane will be fuelled and will start operations in the morning," a representative of Greece’s General Secretariat for Civil Protection said.
Another Il-76 plane landed in Greece shortly after the arrival of the first one. Later, an An-124 transport plane arrived in Athens, delivering two Mi-8 helicopters that will also take part in the firefighting effort.
Following an emergency appeal from the Greek government, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave orders to build up the Russian team of specialists combatting wildfires in central Greece, the Kremlin press service reported on Monday.
Greece has been in the middle of a heatwave for over ten days, and with temperatures climbing to 47 degrees Celsius at certain times. A Russian Be-200 amphibious plane has been in Greece since the end of June, putting out major fires on a daily basis. According to the Greek media, the Russian plane has proved high efficiency in combatting the fires.