The woman in a picture, which has now become a symbol of the forest fires that devastated Greece, has spoken out about her ordeal.
Panayiota Noumidi, who is 81, says that she was fleeing her home on the island of Evia and lost sight of her husband moments before the picture was captured. Her husband, who survived the fire, had stayed behind to try and put out the flames.
Noumidi and her husband live in Gouves, a village in northern Evia and are originally from Athens, the Greek capital.
She said of her ordeal:
"The police, the people, everyone gathered... everyone came and helped. 'I was shouting and screaming helplessly. And as I suffer from hypertension, I collapsed falling to the ground. The police came and found me, gathered me and took me to the local health clinic. My mind blurred and I didn't know what to do. That's why I screamed."
Noumidi and her husband were both treated at the hospital but are expected to make a full recovery.
The Greek wildfires are among the worst on record and are the result of a huge heatwave that has hit the country, with temperatures exceeding 45 degrees centigrade.
For almost a week, fires raged across the country, causing huge damage to the natural habitat, homes and farmland. Fire crews from other parts of the world were also sent to Greece to assist in fighting the fires, which have now come under control.
The island of Evia, Greece's second largest island, is the area worst hit from the fires.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who has been heavily criticised for his government's response to the fires, said:
"We did what was humanly possible, but in many cases it was not enough. Because of the unprecedented heatwave and prolonged drought, (the fires) are hard to extinguish."
Scientists have stated that the recent wildfires in Greece and across the Mediterranean region are the result of man-made global warming. Governments across the world have now vowed to do more to combat the climate emergency.
[h/t: Daily Mail]
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