Ten tourists drown when boat capsizes trying to rescue them from Greek fires as death toll rises to 74 – including 26 who hugged each other as they were overcome by flames near a cliff-edge

• 74 dead including six-month-old baby as worst Greek forest fires in a decade rip through the Athens region
• Rescuers say they found bodies of 26 people, apparently families, found huddled tightly together at one villa
• In the same village of Mati, people were burned alive after being caught in traffic jam while fleeing to beaches
• Ten tourists, including a mother and son, drowned when a boat capsized trying to rescue them from village
• Fires fuelled by 65mph winds and temperatures of 104F tore through communities in a matter of minutes 
• Greece has asked for US drone to ‘detect suspicious activity’ as it emerged 15 fires had started at same time
• Interior minister has described the fires as a ‘national tragedy’ and a ‘biblical disaster with human losses’

By JULIAN ROBINSON FOR MAILONLINE and AFP

Ten tourists drowned when a boat capsized trying to rescue them from gale-driven forest fires which have killed at least 74 in Greece and which may have been started deliberately.

A mother and son from Poland were among the dead when the vessel flipped in the water amid rough seas after picking up guests from a hotel in Mati as forest fires tore through the resort, 25 miles from Athens.

In the same village, a number of holidaymakers and locals were burned alive, some of them trapped in their cars in traffic jams, as hundreds tried to flee the raging inferno, which also devoured more than a thousand homes.

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