Thousands of people in an outer district of the Greek capital Athens are under evacuation orders as firefighters battle a steadily growing wave of wildfires around the country that has left at least 20 people dead.
Civil protection ordered the evacuation of Ano Liosia in northwest Athens, an area of over 25,000 people while homes are on fire in the neighbouring community of Fyli.
Over 60 fires have erupted in the last 24 hours, and six countries are sending help via the European Union's civil protection mechanism, the fire department said, amid a dangerous mix of gale-force winds and temperatures of up to 41C.
"The situation is unprecedented, weather conditions are extreme," fire department spokesman Yiannis Artopios told state TV ERT, adding that the fires "grew to gigantic size" in a short space of time.
Earlier today, the bodies of 18 suspected migrants were found in a forest fire near the Turkish border, north of the city of Alexandroupolis.
As no local residents had been reported missing "the possibility that they are people who entered our country illegally is under investigation," fire department spokesman Yiannis Artopios said in a televised address.
The area is a frequent entry point for irregular migrants. The latest deaths pushed the overall toll from this week's fires to 20.
Another suspected migrant was found dead in the area and a the body of an elderly shepherd was discovered north of Athens yesterday.
"Greece is witnessing an unprecedented scale of wildfire devastation this summer and in such trying times the EU's swift assistance is vital," Janez Lenarčič, Commissioner for Crisis Management, said in a statement.
The lower slopes of Mount Parnitha, the largest forest bordering Athens, was ablaze, having already fallen victim to wildfires several times.
Officials shut down the nearest section of the Athens ring road, and advised residents to stay indoors.
Another major blaze was still raging at a landfill in the industrial zone of Aspropyrgos, west of Athens, covering the area in a noxious black cloud.
Flames continued to spread unchecked in northeastern Greece as well as the islands of Evia and Kythnos, the region of Boeotia north of Athens, in the Peloponnese and in western Greece.
Late last night, an evacuation was ordered at the hospital of Alexandroupolis, a northeastern Greek port city located in an area where fires were raging for a fourth day.
The coastguard said it had moved 65 patients to a waiting ferry at the city harbour.
The fire near Alexandroupolis is also threatening the national park of Dadia, one of the most important protected areas in Europe that is home to rare birds of prey.
On the island of Evia, near the capital, officials evacuated the industrial town of Nea Artaki, where the fire has damaged poultry and pork farms.
The hot and dry conditions which increase the fire risk will persist until Friday, according to meteorologists.
Amid a heatwave, a fire that started on 18 July and was fanned by strong winds ravaged almost 17,770 hectares in ten days in the south of Rhodes, a popular tourist island in the southeastern Aegean Sea.
Around 20,000 people, mostly tourists, had to be moved to safety.
