The worst Greek forest fires in a decade have killed at least 20 people and left 70 injured as people attempted to flee the wildfires in their cars or on foot.
Regional authorities declared a state of emergency in western and eastern parts of Attica, the greater Athens area- while the Greek government called on the EU for assistance to battle the severe wildfires.
Greece’s coast guard has also launched a search-and-rescue operation underway for 10 people, believed to be foreign tourists, who fled one of the forest fires in a boat and were missing.
A coast guard helicopter and vessel were searching the sea near the town of Rafina, northeast of the Greek capital of Athens- where one of the fires is raging.
A wildfire rages in the town of Rafina, near Athens. The government is expecting the death toll to rise significantly
A house burns as a wildfire rages at the village of Mati, near Athens. The worst forest fires in years are raging in Greece at the moment after a dry winter created tinder box conditions
Locals try to extinguish a fire at a nearby house as a wildfire burns at the village of Mati
A man uses a cloth to protect himself from smoke as wildfire burns in the town of Rafina. A number of tourists have been reported missing
Smoke from a wildfire burning outside Athens is seen over the Parthenon temple as people flee the area
Firefighters, soldiers and local residents carry a hose as a wildfire burns in the town of Rafina, near Athens
They acted after receiving notification from Danish authorities, who had received a call from someone in Greece saying they were among a group of 10 people who fled a forest fire in a boat.
The coast guard said it was unclear what type of vessel the 10 people were in.
The first major fire broke out in a pine forest near the seaside settlement of Kineta, 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of Athens between the capital and Corinth.
At least 220 firefighters were on the scene there while five water-dropping planes and seven helicopters helped to fight the blaze from the air.
Reinforcements were sent in from across Greece.
A man stares down the flames and prepares to battle the flames in Rafina, Greece. The wildfires have raged around Athens on Monday
Local communities were evacuated and the blaze shut down a nearly 20-kilometer (13-mile) section on two highways linking the Peloponnese with central Greece.
Thick smoke reduced visibility on the highway to mere meters as it set in.
Several houses were in flames, footage from the Greek TV station Skai showed.
Some residents used garden hoses to try to save their properties while others escaped in cars and on mopeds.
Hours after the blaze began, flecks of ash swirled down onto central Athens.
Authorities sent 17 more firefighting vehicles along with 45 firefighters to Kineta from elsewhere in Greece, as well as a 30-man firefighting crew from the northern city of Thessaloniki.
Other towns and cities were sending water trucks and volunteer firefighters.
The second major blaze broke out Monday afternoon in the Penteli and Rafina areas northeast of Athens.
A firefighter holds a hose as a wildfire burns at the village of Mati, near Athens. The wildfires are being bravely battled by firefighters from different parts of Greece
Firefighters and soldiers working together to fight the wildfire in the town of Rafina, near Athens
Children’s summer camps and a seaside resort for military officers were evacuated, as well as residences in the area. Dozens of homes and cars were reportedly destroyed.
There was no official figure on how many people were evacuated overall.
The fire was burning into the town of Rafina, turning the sky above the nearby port that serves ferries to the Cycladic islands black from the smoke.
The coast guard sent five vessels to rescue people trapped on nearby beaches by the flames. It said initial reports indicated about 80-85 people needed evacuation by sea.
The highway to the nearby town of Marathon was closed to traffic.
Rafina Mayor Vangelis Bournous said he believed about 100 houses in the area had been burned.
The fire service was not able to confirm the figure.
The popular tourist destination of Mati was devastated by the fast-moving blaze.
An eyewitness saw at least four dead on a road in the community of Mati, about 18 miles east of Athens.
One victim was in a car, another beneath a vehicle. Two people died on a motor bike in what appeared to be a traffic queue heading to the safe haven of a nearby beach.
The health ministry confirmed three more deaths, while government officials expected the toll to rise significantly.
Other journalists said they counted at least seven dead on a road in Mati.
One TV channel said eight bodies were being transferred by boat to the port of Rafina, near Mati.
As the fire still raged and darkness fell, the extent of the disaster was impossible to gauge.
‘We are doing everything humanly possible to tray and tackle these fires,’ Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said in Bosnia before cutting short a visit there to return to Athens.
‘What concerns us is that there are fires occurring simultaneously.’
Speaking after arriving in Athens and being briefed on the situation, Tsipras said more than 600 firefighters and 300 vehicles were involved in fighting the fires.
‘It’s a difficult night for Greece,’ he said.
A firefighter tries to extinguish a wildfire burning in the town of Rafina, near Athens. The government has issued an urgent appeal to help tackle the fires
Soldiers fall back as a wildfire burns in the town of Rafina, near Athens. Cyprus has offered to send fire engines and personnel to assist
It was not immediately clear how any of the fires started.
Greece issued an urgent appeal for help to tackle fires which raged uncontrolled in several places across the country, destroying homes, disrupting major transport links and sending people fleeing for their lives.
Greece said it needed air and land assets from its European Union partners. Cyprus offered to send fire engines and personnel.
Firefighters, soldiers and local residents carry a hose and battle the wildfire as it burns in the town of Rafina
A house devastated by the flames in the village of Mati. Greek authorities urged residents of a coastal region west of Athens to abandon their homes
Rescuers and volunteers push an inflatable boat as locals are evacuated from the area in Mati
Reuters witnesses reported seeing a hillside of homes gutted by flames east of Athens.
A mayor said he saw at least 100 homes and 200 vehicles burning.
Greek authorities urged residents of a coastal region west of Athens to abandon their homes as a wildfire burned ferociously, closing one of Greece’s busiest motorways, halting train links and sending plumes of smoke over the capital.
Wildfires are not uncommon in Greece, but a relatively dry winter created tinder box conditions. It was not clear what ignited the fires.
The army was drafted in on Monday afternoon to help fight the blazes.
A senior fire chief went on state TV to appeal to people to leave the area of Kineta west of Athens after some tried to stay on their properties.
A fire is engulfed by flames in Mati. The army was drafted in on Monday afternoon to help fight the blazes
An electricity pole burns on a car as the wildfire continues to rage at the village of Mati. Fire raged around the Saronicos Gulf, ravaging tracts of pine forest
A firefighter wears a flame resistant uniform as wildfire burns in the town of Rafina, near
The fire rages in the distance at the town of Rafina. Reuters witnesses reported seeing a hillside of homes gutted by flames east of Athens
Fire fighters are seen amid smoke as a wildfire burns in Kineta, near Athens. The dusty, orange smoke hangs unnervingly over the motorway
‘People should leave, close up their homes and just leave. People cannot tolerate so much smoke for so many hours,’
Achilleas Tzouvaras said. ‘This is an extreme situation.’
The main Athens-Corinth motorway, one of two road routes to the Peloponese peninsula, was shut and train services were cancelled.
Fire raged around the Saronicos Gulf, ravaging tracts of pine forest, and was visible for miles.
An ominous cloud of black-orange smoke hung over the Acropolis hill and the Parthenon temple in Athens on Monday afternoon.
A third fire burned farmland and woods on the southern island of Crete, while in northern Greece a forest fire in the area of Soufli was being battled by 50 firefighters.
The fire department said three fires also broke out in the area of Corinth in southern Greece.
The worst fire season by far occurred in 2007, when large swaths of forest and farmland burned, mainly in the Peloponnese in southern Greece, killing more than 60 people.