Greek goat breeder crushed by losses in island inferno

PAPPADES, Greece－On Evia Island in Greece, a stunned Kostis Angelou wandered among the carcasses of his goats, all 372 of them burned by a fire that devoured forests on the island.

"I'm lost," he sighed. "I can't take it anymore."

The goats lay on two flanks of a hill blackened by the blaze that burned for more than a week in the north of Greece's second-biggest island.

Up on the island in the middle of the forest, the 44-year-old farmer miraculously survived by spending hours under an irrigation water pipe, surrounded by flames.

"A saint saved me," Angelou said.

There was a crushing silence, only broken by the rustle of dried leaves in the breeze.

At the foot of lifeless tree trunks lay the eviscerated bodies of charred animals in a cloud of flies, a sickening smell in the air.

A horn was visible through the bare branches and blackened trees, a jawbone too, in what has become an open-air cemetery on a carpet of ashes.

Angelou surveyed the damage, with his face haggard and eyes sunken into his face. "Let them bury them, I don't want to see them anymore," he said as he knelt, taking his head into his hands.

Angelou left school at the age of 12.Since then, he has raised goats, one of many herds in Evia's northeast.

"For more than 30 years, 365 days a year," he said.

"My heart has to calm down, I've got to start everything again from scratch," he whispered.

Angelou's father had worked for 50 years to get such a herd. "If he comes here, he will faint," Angelou said.

Over in the family home in the tiny village of Kerasia, Spyros Angelou was finding it hard to come to terms with the disaster.

"We're finished. What do you want us to do?" asked the 73-year-old, sitting at a table in the courtyard.

"The pines burned, the fields burned, the animals burned. We're going to be hungry. What will we eat? How are we going to live?"

Nestled in the rolling hills, Kerasia is surrounded by devastation. The flames stopped on the doorstep of the primary school, and the steep streets were saved by local residents.

Kostis Angelou is the father of an 11-year-old, and wishes a different future for him.

"My son used to accompany me everywhere whenever he had time. It's better if he never gets involved in breeding and finds another job," he said.

Officials came to check on the damage done to estimate how much compensation they could get, and the family should be getting compensated for each of their lost goats.

Some small rehabilitation works have also started already.

"Houses are easily rebuilt, nature is another story," said the younger Angelou with a sigh.

Agencies via Xinhua