Photos: Greece's great declutter at battle coastline

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Salamina, Greece: Greece is commemorating one of the greatest naval battles in ancient history this year at Salamis, the claw-shaped island skirting the mainland near Athens. Image Credit: AP

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It's where the invading Persian navy suffered a heavy defeat 2,500 years ago, their large vessels unable to properly maneuver in the narrow seaways. Image Credit: AP

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Salamis, now known as Salamina, has become an extended suburb of the capital, a blue-collar retirement and summer home spot. It still looks out over a fleet of sunken and partially sunken vessels. Image Credit: AP

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Heavily rusted cargo ships and tugboats, battered sailboats and fishing trawlers are scattered and abandoned between Salamina and Greece's largest industrial zone with oil refineries, shipyards and a massive Chinese-owned container port. Image Credit: AP

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With the main commemoration events just months away, Greece is in a race to declutter the coastline and has already salvaged dozens of ships, which are dragged to shore, cut up and transported to scrapyards in central Greece. Image Credit: AP

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"This is a historic site and it's in terrible shape," said Christos Maridakis, a gruff-spoken retired submarine officer from the Salamis International Foundation, a privately-funded organization helping with the commemoration events. Image Credit: AP

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"People working here are full of passion to get the job done in the short time we have. It's a battle," he said, standing near two excavators on the Salamina shoreline, with rollers partially submerged. Image Credit: AP

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The machines are used to lift chunks of metal onto land, to be cut into smaller pieces. Image Credit: AP

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"So far we've pulled up 36 vessels of the 50 we were contracted for," said Giorgos Kallaitzidis, a scrap metal contractor, which operates four salvaging areas on the island. "We separate the material from the vessels onshore, mostly wood and metal, then it's loaded up into trucks." Image Credit: AP

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Salamis-related events include multiple museum exhibitions and the issue of a 10-euro commemorative coin by the Bank of Greece. The events will run through 2021 when Greece will also hold bicentennial celebrations for the anniversary of the Greek Revolution and war of independence from Ottoman rule. Image Credit: AP

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Image Credit: AP

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Image Credit: AP

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