About 20 people have been injured, 14 of them seriously. Dry thunderstorms could have been the cause of the fatal blaze, according to the prime minister.
More than 350 soldiers have joined the 700 firefighters who have been struggling to put out the flames since Saturday.
Firefighters of the Portuguese National Republican Guard work to stop a forest fire from reaching the village of Avelar, central Portugal, at sunrise Sunday, June 18.
"Unfortunately, this seems to be the greatest tragedy we have seen in recent years in terms of forest fires", said a visibly moved Prime Minister Antonio Costa, who declared three days of mourning starting on Sunday. Spain dispatched two water-bombing planes on June 18 morning to aid the Portuguese fire service on the ground, Costa said. Two people were killed in a traffic accident related to the fires. "Let us pray in silence", he said.
Many world leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, Pope Francis and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, expressed solidarity with Portugal.
Juncker wrote in the letter that "Our thoughts are with all the victims, their families and all the fearless soldiers of peace that in a very hard terrain and under challenging circumstances continue to fight this bad fire".
Portuguese officials say most of the 62 people who died in the forest fire north of Lisbon were trying to flee the inferno in their cars.
President Trump to bring back harsher restrictions on travel to Cuba
Senator Marco Rubio says he will be with President Trump in Miami Friday when he rolls out the administration's new Cuba policy . What followed over the next two years was the most significant change in US-Cuban relations since the 1959 revolution.
Almost 900 firefighters and 300 vehicles were still battling the blaze on Sunday afternoon as scenes of devastation could be seen around the town.
Another 59 people have been injured and taken to hospitals, including five in serious condition.
Smoke covers the IC8 motorway during the forest fire near Pedrogao Grande, in central Portugal.
"The latest victim was found in the countryside", said Gomes, who was tasked with delivering the latest information available to authorities on the site, located some 190 km to the northeast of Lisbon.
Portuguese president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa visited the scene of the tragedy overnight and was pictured in an emotional embrace with his minister Jorge Gomes. "It was not possible to do more than what has been done" in prevention and the immediate response.
Some local residents said they had been left without firefighters for hours as their homes burned. Others complained about poor forestry reserve planning and depopulation of remote villages, which leaves many wooded areas unattended.




Comments