Video: More than 20 dead in fires near Greece's Athens

More than 20 people died in flames as the worst Greek forest fire in a decade engulfedan area close to Athens on Monday, news agencies AFP reported.

According to the report,the majority of victims were found in their homes or cars in the seaside resort of Mati as they were attempting to flee the area.

More than 104 were persons are also injured, out of which 11 are in critical condition.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

There were 16 children among the injured, he said.

As the fire still raged and darkness fell, the extent of the disaster was impossible to gauge.

Following the crisis at home, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has cut short his trip to Bosnia on Monday.

The news agency, Reuters quoted Tsipras saying, "We are dealing with something completely asymmetric," Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

Greece has also issued an urgent appeal for help to tackle fires which raged uncontrolled in several places across the country, destroying homes, disrupting major transport links.

The authorities have also urged residents to abandon their homes as a wildfire burned ferociously.

Greece said it needed air and land assets from its European Union partners. Cyprus offered to send fire engines and personnel.

Wildfires are not uncommon in Greece, but a relatively dry winter created tinderbox conditions. It was not clear what ignited the fires.

The army was drafted in on Monday afternoon to help fight the blazes. A senior fire chief went on state TV to appeal to people to leave the area of Kineta west of Athens after some tried to stay on their properties.

The main Athens-Corinth motorway, one of two road routes to the Peloponnese peninsula, was shut and train services were cancelled.

The fire raged around the Saronicos Gulf, ravaging tracts of pine forest, and was visible for miles. An ominous cloud of black-orange smoke hung over the Acropolis hill and the Parthenon temple in Athens on Monday afternoon.

(With inputs from news agencies)