At least six people died trying to escape the flames into the sea.One Belgian was among the victims, said Belgium&China SOFT BAG UNIT PACKINGS OF FIRE BLANKETS39;s foreign minister Didier Reynders, while in Warsaw Poland's government said a Polish woman and her son also died."I ran out like a crazy person, got to the beach and put my head in the water.Dramatic video footage showed people fleeing by car as the tourist-friendly Attica region declared a state of emergency.Many people fled to the sea to try to escape the flames as they tore through towns near Athens stoked by high winds, reducing pine forests to ash and devouring hundreds of buildings.Sweden, experiencing an unprecedented drought and the highest temperatures in a century, has counted more than 20 fires across the country.But "the problem is what is still hidden under the ashes," said emergency services vice president Miltiadis Mylonas.Hundreds of firefighters, as well as several aircraft and helicopters have been mobilised to fight the fires in Greece. Some 715 people were evacuated by boats to Rafina, the government said.Greek media have described the disaster as a "national tragedy", while Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras cut short a visit to Bosnia and announced three days of national mourning.NATO head Jens Stoltenberg offered the alliance's full solidarity with Greece, whose government earmarked financial aid for victims' relatives.Residents and terrified holidaymakers were overtaken by the flames in homes, on foot or in their cars.Officials raised the possibility the blazes could have been started deliberately by criminals out to ransack abandoned homes.Athanasia Oktapodi, whose home is surrounded by pine trees, said she first spotted the fire moving down the hill # "and five or ten minutes later it was in my garden". AFP photographers saw the burnt bodies of people and dogs.
Some of them have lost everything: children, parents, homes," said Red Cross spokeswoman Georgia Trisbioti.Resort 'no longer exists' Fire service spokeswoman Stavroula Maliri said firefighters were still searching for more victims and taking "dozens of calls" from people looking for relatives.The government has not yet said how many people are still missing from the fires, which broke out on Monday, as firefighters continue to battle blazes in some areas."I saw the flames outside the window of our hotel. Athens: Rescue workers in Greece continued to search charred homes and burned-out cars on Wednesday as the toll from some of the worst wildfires this century is expected to rise from at least 74 dead and 187 injured.40-degree heatInterior Minister Panos Skourletis said the priority was to extinguish a fire still burning in Kineta, 50 kilometres from Athens.Fires have also hit Finland's northernmost Lapland province.Some 187 people have been hospitalised, with 82 still being treated on Tuesday evening, including almost a dozen children, most of whom were in a "serious condition", the fire services said. I thought it would explode," said Alina Marzin, a 20-year-old German tourist who had been staying at the Capo Verde hotel in Mati on Monday evening with her brother and their parents.Hundreds of firefighters, as well as several aircraft and helicopters have been mobilised to fight the fires in Greece."People are shocked, lost.Winds of above 100 kilometres per hour (60 mph) in Mati caused a "sudden progression of fire" through the village, said Maliri.Showers were set to see temperatures around Athens drop slightly after hitting 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit)Fires across Europe The wildfires come as record temperatures in northern Europe have seen blazes cause widespread damage in recent days.
