Greek authorities are investigating the causes that led to the devastating fires which destroyed vast swaths of forests on the island of Euboea, and according to initial sources, there are indications of foul play pointing to intentional arson.

The special Fire Department’s investigation unit is suggesting the fires could have been lit by arsonists as material found at three sites revealed the fires were lit on purpose.

The major fire started at 03:00 in the morning last Tuesday, 1.5 km outside the village Makrymalli. Ongoing investigations and depositions so far have shown that there were three different outbreaks at different locations simultaneously.

According to the newspaper “Eleftheros Typos”, officials of the Fire Fighting Crime Division found evidence at three different locations that caused numerous fires near the Makrymalli Monastery, which is where the major fire in the island began on Tuesday morning.

The locations are approximately 1.5 kilometres from Makrymalli village. All three investigation units of the Fire Department have identified evidence of arson at all three sites. The units found traces of combustion, towels, plastic shards, possibly with flammable liquid, accumulated fuel (twigs, woods) and some small butane gas cylinders.

So far, more than 30 residents have made depositions in the ongoing investigations, which converge that a suspicious motorbike and one more car were driving in the area. Authorities have so far failed to pinpoint the license plates of the two vehicles mentions in the depositions.