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Lightning Strikes Kill Cattle, Start Fires in Greece during Heat Wave

An aircraft sprays water in an attempt to extinguish a wildfire in the village of Trilofos, near Thessaloniki on July 18, 2024. (Photo by Sakis MITROLIDIS / AFP)
An aircraft sprays water in an attempt to extinguish a wildfire in the village of Trilofos, near Thessaloniki on July 18, 2024. (Photo by Sakis MITROLIDIS / AFP)
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Lightning Strikes Kill Cattle, Start Fires in Greece during Heat Wave

An aircraft sprays water in an attempt to extinguish a wildfire in the village of Trilofos, near Thessaloniki on July 18, 2024. (Photo by Sakis MITROLIDIS / AFP)
An aircraft sprays water in an attempt to extinguish a wildfire in the village of Trilofos, near Thessaloniki on July 18, 2024. (Photo by Sakis MITROLIDIS / AFP)

Lightning strikes in northern Greece killed cattle and started fires during a dayslong heat wave affecting most of southern Europe.
Several fires were reported near the city of Kozani, 450 kilometers north of Athens following a dry thunderstorm in the area, authorities said Saturday.
Further north, near the Greek town of Florina, officials from a public agricultural insurance organization said nine cows were killed by lightning strikes at a cattle farm and several other animals were injured.
Cattle farm owner Alexandros Tsikos told The Associated Press that he found the animals dead in a grazing area next to the cattle barn.
Temperatures eased slightly Saturday but remained as high as 40 Celsius in parts of the country, while the risk of wildfires was very high outside Athens and in much of southern Greece.

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Varieties

Reports: Helmsman of Cargo Ship Run Aground in Norway Was Likely Asleep

Johan Helberg stands next to his house, with the container ship NCL Salten in the background, after the 135-meter-long ship ran aground in the Trondheimsfjord, outside Byneset, in Trondheim, Norway, Thursday May 22, 2025. (Jan Langhaug/NTB Scanpix via AP)
Johan Helberg stands next to his house, with the container ship NCL Salten in the background, after the 135-meter-long ship ran aground in the Trondheimsfjord, outside Byneset, in Trondheim, Norway, Thursday May 22, 2025. (Jan Langhaug/NTB Scanpix via AP)
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Reports: Helmsman of Cargo Ship Run Aground in Norway Was Likely Asleep

Johan Helberg stands next to his house, with the container ship NCL Salten in the background, after the 135-meter-long ship ran aground in the Trondheimsfjord, outside Byneset, in Trondheim, Norway, Thursday May 22, 2025. (Jan Langhaug/NTB Scanpix via AP)
Johan Helberg stands next to his house, with the container ship NCL Salten in the background, after the 135-meter-long ship ran aground in the Trondheimsfjord, outside Byneset, in Trondheim, Norway, Thursday May 22, 2025. (Jan Langhaug/NTB Scanpix via AP)

The helmsman of a huge container ship that ran aground in Norway just a stone's throw away from a cabin as its owner slept was probably asleep as well at the time of the accident, Norwegian media reported Friday.

"Only one person was on the bridge at the time. He was steering the vessel, but didn't change course when entering the Trondheim fjord as he should have," the news agency NTB reported.

"Police have received information from others who were on board that he was asleep," police official Kjetil Bruland Sorensen told NTB.

The 135-metre (443-foot) NCL Salten sailed up onto shore just meters from Johan Helberg's wooden cabin around dawn on Thursday.

Helberg discovered the unexpected visitor only when a panicked neighbor who had rung his doorbell repeatedly to no avail gave up and called him on the phone.

"The doorbell rang at a time of day when I don't like to open," Helberg told television channel TV2.

His neighbor, Jostein Jorgensen, said he was roused at around 5:00 am by the sound of a ship heading at full speed toward land and immediately ran to Helberg's house.

None of the cargo's 16 crew members were injured, and Norwegian police have opened an investigation.

"We are aware of the police stating that they have one suspect, and we continue to assist the police and authorities in their ongoing investigation," the NCL shipping group said Friday.

"We are also conducting internal inquiries but prefer not to speculate further," it added.

Efforts to refloat the ship have failed so far, and the massive red and green container ship remained stuck, looming over the small cabin.