At least 60 people have reportedly died in wildfires in the Attica region around Athens, in Greece’s worst fire crisis in more than a decade. A local official gave the death toll to local media after flames devastated the seaside village of Mati.
Many calls have been made to the rescue services looking for missing persons.
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Hundreds of firefighters have been battling the blazes and the authorities are seeking international assistance.
“We will do whatever is humanly possible to control it,” Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told reporters.
How badly burnt is Mati?
Fire swept through the village 40km (25 miles) north-east of Athens on Monday and was still burning in some areas on Tuesday morning.
Evangelos Bournous, mayor of the town of Rafina, told Skai TV that at least 60 people had perished.
Desperate families trying to reach the safety of the sea were trapped by walls of smoke and flame. Others died in buildings or cars.
After the 26 bodies were found in an open space, Nikos Economopoulos, head of Greece’s Red Cross, said: “They had tried to find an escape route but unfortunately these people and their kids didn’t make it in time. Instinctively, seeing the end nearing, they embraced.”
Coastal patrol boats and private vessels picked up hundreds of those who did manage to reach harbours or beaches.
“Thankfully the sea was there and we went into the sea, because the flames were chasing us all the way to the water,” said one survivor, Kostas Laganos.
“It burned our backs and we dived into the water… I said, ‘My God, we must run to save ourselves.'”
George Vokas, whose family escaped by sea but whose house and cars were burnt, told BBC News that two women he had tried to help had died.
“We’re talking about a biblical catastrophe in this wonderful area of Mati,” he said. BBC