Days into dream job, Greek forester dies in fires

ANILIO, Greece, Aug 31 (Reuters) A few days after starting a job he had wanted for years, forest warden Yannis Siordinis died trying in vain to save a mother and her four children from the deadly fires that have devastated Greece.

''He was a hero. A great person, very generous with other people and a hard worker. His family came first for him,'' lamented Father Constantinos Grammatikopoulos, the village priest who chanted the funeral service yesterday.

Soft sobs permeated the silence in Anilio as hundreds gathered from nearby villages to lay to rest one of the first victims of the fires that killed 63.

Siordinis was 43 when the job he had hoped to get for years led to his death, leaving a wife and two children. He was identified by his wedding ring.

''It was his fifth day on the job, just his fifth day. He had been waiting for the appointment for years,'' said Irini Pangiotopoulos, 35, a friend of the family.

Siordinis, previously a manager in a local supermarket, died after rushing to help victims of a seven-car pile-up among blazing olive groves close to the neighbouring village of Artemida.

Among the charred remains of what appeared to be a freak accident, a mother was found dead with the bodies of her children still in her arms. There were no survivors.

The seven-day inferno left a trail of destruction across Greece's southern Peloponnese region. The government, which has been accused of incompetence for its chaotic response to the crisis, has blamed arsonists.

But the mood in Anilio was one of grief rather than anger as dozens crammed into the tiny stone-built church, and more spilled out into the square, for the 45-minute funeral service in the baking heat.

Siordinis's wife Sia, propped up by relatives, her face contorted with grief, watched as her husband's coffin was removed from a hearse covered in the Greek flag. She wept silently, leaning on a male relative for support.

The crowd of mourners, holding white lilies and chrysanthemums, clapped as the coffin was taken into the church.

After the service, the coffin was taken up the hill to the cemetery, overlooking the burned olive groves around Anilio, a small community nestled on a hillside which escaped the fires unscathed.

''His concern at being able to provide a decent living for his family unfortunately cost him his life,'' Grammatikopoulos told Reuters.

Reuters RKM VP0425