[1/4] Smoke rises as a wildfire burns at Dadia National Park in the region of Evros, Greece, August 29, 2023. REUTERS/Alexandros Avramidis Acquire Licensing RightsATHENS, Aug 29 (Reuters) - A wildfire burning in northeastern Greece for 11 days has destroyed an area larger than New York City, the European Union-backed Copernicus Climate Change Service said on Tuesday, as firefighters from five countries battled to contain the flames. New York City takes up 778.2 square kilometres (300.5 square miles). Panagiota Maragou, head of conservation at the Greece division of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), said at least 30% of the National Park of Dadia-Lefkimi-Soufli Forest had been lost to flames. Thanks to its high biodiversity, the national park was "one of the most important protected areas in Greece and also in Europe, perhaps also on an international scale", she said.

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Persons: Alexandros Avramidis, Copernicus, Jiri Nemcik, Maragou, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, We've, Karolina Tagaris, Mark Heinrich Our Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, European Union, Twitter, Emergency Management Service, New York City, . Aircraft, World Wildlife Fund, of, Thomson Locations: Evros, Greece, New York City, Alexandroupolis, New York, Serbia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Albania, Czech, Soufli, Europe, Athens, Turkey