By DPA
Athens : Wildfires continued to rage on Greece’s Peloponnese peninsula Monday, with the official death toll put at 61 since the fires broke out Friday.
At least four large fires and dozens of smaller ones raged near Olympia in the west, Kalamata in the southwest and Sparta in the southeast.
The area around the ancient archaeological site of Olympia has been largely destroyed in the wildfires.
Fires were also blazing on Euboea, the second largest Greek island.
Dozens of villages in the western region of the peninsula and on Euboea have been evacuated.
Large parts of the parkland and forest around the Olympic museum and stadium were shown damaged on Greek television Monday. The museum’s artefacts were unaffected by the fires.
Also damaged was the Kronos Hill site above the sanctuary where the Olympic torch is lit up for the traditional torch relay ahead of the Olympic games.
Clouds of smoke were hindering fire fighting. “We hope that the situation will improve soon,” said police spokesman Nikos Diamantis.
Monday would be a “key day” in the battle, a fireman said: “Today (Monday) we will bombard them massively with water. We need a result at last to encourage people.”
Five fire fighting planes from France and one from Italy as well as around 60 firemen from France and 60 from Cyprus were helping the efforts to dowse the blazes.
Three helicopters from Germany were also expected to arrive Monday. The Netherlands, Israel, Romania, Norway and Slovenia are also sending aid.
Greek officials have now offered rewards ranging from 100,000 to 1 million euros ($136,000 to $1.36 million) for information on suspected arsonists.
The offer was made for evidence and information leading to the arrest of individuals or members of a criminal ring suspected of setting the fires, according to the Greek news agency ANA.
Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis declared the fires to be a “national catastrophe” and has ordered flags to be flown at half-mast at official buildings.