Rafina

As the death toll from the destructive fire in eastern Attica rose to 81 on Wednesday, rescue teams continued the effort to find dozens of people who remained unaccounted for.

More specifically, some 130 army and fire brigade personnel were continuing the search for the missing, whose numbers are difficult to determine.

More than 200 houses have been completely destroyed by the devastating wildfires that ripped through a coastal town east of Athens this week killing at least 80 people, according to data collected by engineers from the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport who have started recording the damage to buildings.

New Democracy chief Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Tuesday visited the eastern Attica area where wildfires have claimed some 60 lives so far and met with officials at Pikermi-Rafina Town Hall.

The conservative leader was briefed on the current situation in the area, where rescue and firefighting efforts are still under way, and there are fears of more casualties.

Collection points appeared all over the Greek capital on Tuesday, as different agencies and groups launched donation drives for emergency supplies to help residents of east Attica who saw their homes and belongings go up in smoke.

A fifth person has been found dead in the sea off the coast of Artemida, about 6 nautical miles south of Rafina. He is described as a man aged in his mid-60s and is believed to have drowned while trying to flee the deadly fire that swept across Attica's eastern coast.

A Hellenic Navy frigate recovered the bodies of three women and a child in the same area earlier on Tuesday.

Cyprus, Israel, Spain, Bulgaria, Italy, Germany, Poland and France have extended a helping hand to Greece as a fire that started on Monday in eastern Attica claimed 50 lives by Tuesday morning and injured more than 150 residents and visitors in the holiday resorts of Mati, Rafina, Neos Voutzas and Penteli.

We woke up on Tuesday morning to the smell of smoke here in Artemida, a few kilometers south of tragedy-stricken Rafina. The sun is pale and the sky is almost as smoky as it was last night.

According to reports, rescuers are finding the victims all the time, in the streets, and in their cars and homes.

26 bodies have been found in the yard of a villa in the resort of Mati, near Athens. There are many children among the more than 100 injured people, international media are reporting.

As the capital's firefighting force was doing battle with a large wildfire in Kineta, west of Athens, a separate blaze broke out on Mount Penteli in the northeast on Monday afternoon.

Travelers at Piraeus port, south of Athens, line up to board a vessel heading for island destinations across the Aegean Sea. With the traditional August holiday period approaching and another heat wave forecast over the next few days, an increasing number of Athenians who can afford it are hopping on ships from Piraeus and Rafina to head for the beaches of the Greek islands.