Greek authorities have arrested a Georgian woman suspected of accidentally causing one of the wildfires that burned thousands of hectares of land on the island of Chios.
According to investigators, she allegedly threw a cigarette butt that sparked the fire, as reported by Reuters.
The fire broke out on Sunday on the island of Chios, in the Aegean Sea, and destroyed approximately 4,000 hectares of vegetation-covered land, according to the Ministry for Climate Crisis and Civil Protection of Greece.
The Georgian woman was detained on Tuesday evening and is accused of negligent arson, according to two Greek firefighter officials, speaking on condition of anonymity.
One of them stated that eyewitnesses saw her throwing a cigarette butt, which led to the ignition of the dry vegetation in the area.
Although by Wednesday the fires were mostly under control, hundreds of firefighters remained mobilized on the island to prevent the fire from rekindling and to secure the area, as reported by the Greek firefighting brigade.