ATHENS - Nearly 50 people have died in wildfires burning in the Attica region around Athens, in Greece's worst fire crisis in more than a decade.
According to the local mayor, 26 bodies were found in a yard in the seaside village of Mati, which is at the centre of the disaster.
The fire brigade confirmed an overall death toll of 49, with many of the dead believed to be young children.
Many calls have been made to the rescue services looking for missing persons.
As part of a huge rescue effort, emergency workers used boats and helicopters to evacuate a beach.
A search-and-rescue operation is being conducted for 10 tourists who fled one of the fires in a boat, officials say.
Hundreds of firefighters are 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.
What is happening here in eastern Attica is a black hell. After I passed by hundreds of burning cars and houses earlier today, I reached the yard where police said so many people had been found dead.
I could see some of them lying on the ground as fog covered the place and a toxic smell spread through the atmosphere.
Most of them were tourists who had tried to find refuge but did not make it.(FA)
