Death Toll Climbs to Near 50 As Gales Fuel Fires in Greece

Flames are approaching a house in Evia island on Friday Aug. 24, 2007. An unprecedented wave of massive fires fanned by gale-force winds raged out of control across Greece Friday, sweeping into towns and villages and killing at least 16 people in the country's deadliest forest fire toll in decades. (AP Photo/Dimitris Doudoumis/ICON press) (Dimitris Doudoumis - AP)

ZAHARO, Greece, Aug. 25 -- Fires pushed by gale-force winds tore through more parched forests, swallowed villages and scorched the edges of Athens on Saturday, with ashes raining onto the Acropolis. The death toll rose to at least 49 as the government declared a nationwide state of emergency.

Soldiers and military helicopters augmented firefighting forces stretched to the limit by Greece's worst summer of wildfires in decades. In the most ravaged area -- a string of mountain villages in the south -- rescue crews picked through a grim aftermath.

Charred bodies were found along roads and in fields, homes and cars, including the remains of a mother hugging her four children.

Dozens of fresh fires broke out across the country, including some blamed on arson, with the most severe concentrated in the mountains of southern Greece.

By sea and by land, authorities evacuated hundreds of people trapped by flames.

An additional 500 soldiers were to join firefighters Sunday, fire officials said. At least 12 countries also pledged reinforcements, including firefighting aircraft and crews.

Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, in a nationally televised address, said officials would investigate cases of suspected arson and punish those found responsible.

A 65-year-old man was arrested and charged with arson and multiple counts of homicide in a fire that killed six people in Areopolis, a town in the southern Peloponnese, according to fire department spokesman Nikos Diamandis. Separately, two youths were arrested on suspicion of arson in the northern city of Kavala.

The worst-affected region was around the town of Zaharo, south of ancient Olympia in the western Peloponnese. A blaze that broke out Friday engulfed villages, trapping dozens of people and killing at least 39.