Eighteen burned bodies, possibly migrants, have been found in a rural area in northern Greece where wildfires are burning out of control for a fourth day, authorities say, as gale force winds fanned blazes across the country.
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In the nearby port town of Alexandroupolis, dozens of hospital patients were moved onto a ferry earlier on Tuesday while a blaze on the foothills of Mount Parnitha on the outskirts of Athens sent thick clouds of smoke over the capital.
The bodies were found near the sprawling Dadia forest in the northeastern Evros region, a popular route for migrants from the Middle East and Asia crossing the river from Turkey into the European Union.
An uptick in crossings was reported this month.
The fire brigade said authorities were investigating the possibility that the bodies were of migrants who entered the country illegally because no residents in the area had been reported missing.
The government expressed its "deepest sorrow" over the deaths, its spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said.
"Unfortunately, their stay in the forest of Dadia proved fatal," he said.
Another body thought to belong to a migrant was found on Monday in a rural area 40km away.
Migration Minister Dimitris Kairidis said the "tragedy confirms, once more, the dangers of irregular migration" and accused smuggling rings of putting migrants' lives at risk.
In the nearby village of Avantas, fires swept through a number of homes overnight.
"It has reached the entire village," said Alexandros Chrisoulidis, a 19-year-old Avantas resident.
"Our own house up there, where the fire started, has completely burned down. There is nothing."
A 23-year-old resident who gave his name as Nikos said: "The situation is tragic. All that is needed right now are prayers and rain."
A satellite image broadcast on state television showed that smoke from the Evros fires had drifted across the country to the Ionian islands in the northwest, not far from Italy.
Fires near Athens in the southeast burned homes and cars and forced residents to flee on foot.
Some covered their faces with their clothes as smoke thickened the air.
Volunteers loaded sheep in the trunks of cars to save them from the flames, while another man tried to rescue a horse.
"The winds are very strong... It is a very difficult firefighting task. God help us," said Sotiris Masouris, a 50-year-old resident of Hasia, west of Athens.
In the industrial town of Aspropyrgos near Athens, factories were destroyed as a blaze burned unabated.
Fire brigade spokesman Ioanis Artopios said the risk of fire remained high in the coming days.
Fifty-six firefighters arrived in Greece from Romania on Tuesday and further assistance was expected from the Czech Republic, Croatia, Germany and Sweden with 64 more firefighters, 19 fire engines, seven planes and one helicopter, the fire brigade said.
Australian Associated Press
