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Endangered Turtle Returned to Waters off Cyprus After Medical Stay 

Lucy, a green sea turtle crawls back to the sea in a beach in Meneou, Cyprus July 26, 2024. (Reuters) 
Lucy, a green sea turtle crawls back to the sea in a beach in Meneou, Cyprus July 26, 2024. (Reuters) 
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Endangered Turtle Returned to Waters off Cyprus After Medical Stay 

Lucy, a green sea turtle crawls back to the sea in a beach in Meneou, Cyprus July 26, 2024. (Reuters) 
Lucy, a green sea turtle crawls back to the sea in a beach in Meneou, Cyprus July 26, 2024. (Reuters) 

An endangered green sea turtle, nicknamed Lucy by her carers, is back where she belongs in the waters off Cyprus after a three-month recuperation stint at the island's aquaculture research facility.

Lucy was found on a beach earlier this year suffering apparent exhaustion, but after receiving treatment for dehydration, steroids and a vitamin-packed diet, the 20-year-old turtle was released on Friday off the southern city of Larnaca.

"She is now capable of surviving on her own," said Yianna Samuel, a fisheries and marine research officer at Cyprus's department of fisheries and marine research.

Two species of turtle, the green turtle and the loggerhead, also known as Caretta caretta, breed on the beaches of Cyprus. Green turtles are considered endangered, while loggerheads are classed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

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Firefighters Battle a Wildfire Burning Out of Control on the Greek Island of Chios

A firefighting helicopter during firefighting operations on Chios Island, Greece, 24 June 2025. EPA/KOSTAS KOURGIAS
A firefighting helicopter during firefighting operations on Chios Island, Greece, 24 June 2025. EPA/KOSTAS KOURGIAS
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Firefighters Battle a Wildfire Burning Out of Control on the Greek Island of Chios

A firefighting helicopter during firefighting operations on Chios Island, Greece, 24 June 2025. EPA/KOSTAS KOURGIAS
A firefighting helicopter during firefighting operations on Chios Island, Greece, 24 June 2025. EPA/KOSTAS KOURGIAS

Hundreds of firefighters backed up by aircraft were battling a wildfire burning out of control for the third day on the eastern Aegean island of Chios Tuesday, with authorities issuing multiple evacuation orders.

Towering walls of flames tore through forest and agricultural land on the island, where authorities have declared a state of emergency and have sent firefighting reinforcements from Athens, the northern city of Thessaloniki and the nearby island of Lesbos, said the Associated Press.

By Tuesday morning, the fire department said 444 firefighters with 85 vehicles were tackling the blaze on scattered fronts. Eleven helicopters and two water-dropping planes were providing air support.

Emergency services have issued evacuation orders for villages and settlements in the area since Sunday, when fires broke out near the island’s main town. The fire department has sent an arson investigation team to Chios to examine the cause of the blaze.

“We are faced with simultaneous fires in multiple, geographically unconnected parts of the island — a pattern that cannot be considered coincidental,” Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Minister Giannis Kefalogiannis said Monday from Chios. Authorities, he said, were “very seriously examining the possibility of an organized criminal act, in other words arson.”

The minister said police forces on the island had been reinforced, while military patrols had been doubled.

“Whoever thinks that they can play with the lives of citizens and cause chaos with premeditated actions will be led to court,” Kefalogiannis said. “Arson is a serious crime and will be dealt with as such.”

Wildfires are frequent in Greece during its hot, dry summers. In 2018, a massive fire swept through the seaside town of Mati, east of Athens, trapping people in their homes and on roads as they tried to flee. More than 100 died, including some who drowned trying to swim away from the flames.