Dozens More Killed as Greece’s Raging Fires Sweep through Resort Town (+Video, Photos)

The new report raises the death toll after rescue crews reported finding the bodies of more than 20 people huddled together near a beach.

CBS News reported that the fires are the worst Greece has seen since 2007, prompting the government to issue an urgent appeal for help in battling the blazes, which have swept through a beach resort community popular with tourists and retirees.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras declared three days of national mourning for those killed by the fires.

The Greek coast guard and passing boats picked up more than 700 people who'd fled to the water's edge to try and escape the flames and choking smoke, according to Merchant Marine deputy minister Nektarios Santorinios, but tragically the fire moved too fast for others to save themselves.

The head of Greece's Red Cross, Nikos Oikonomopoulos, told Skai television a member of a Red Cross rescue team had told him the crew searching a seaside area northeast of Athens had found 26 bodies, apparently families, huddled tightly together, many of them hugging.

The group is believed to have been discovered near several cars found charred outside a walled compound gutted by the fire.

One of the survivors from the fire-stricken area near Rafina was former Greek Communist Party leader Aleka Papariga.

"The police tried to direct us away from the fire. But we couldn't escape it," she said. "We got stuck in traffic and the flames were on top of us. We managed to find a small gap and we made it out."

Greece sought international help through the European Union as fires on either side of Athens left lines of cars torched, charred farms and forests, and sent hundreds of people racing to beaches to be evacuated by navy vessels, yachts and fishing boats. The coast guard said 19 people had been found at sea and rescued, while 696 had been picked up from beaches and coastline by boat.

Spain was the first to send two firefighting aircraft while Cyprus was sending in 60 firefighters to help battle the flames.

The fire department said 156 adults and 16 children were hospitalized with injuries. Eleven of the adults were in serious condition.

Winds reached 50 mph as authorities deployed the country's entire fleet of water-dropping planes and helicopters to give vacationers time to escape. Military drones remained in the air in the high winds to help officials direct more than 600 firefighters on the ground.

"We were unlucky. The wind changed and it came at us with such force that it razed the coastal area in minutes," said Evangelos Bournous, mayor of the port town of Rafina, a sleepy mainland port that serves Greek holiday islands.

The dock area became a makeshift hospital as paramedics checked survivors, some of them clad in only their bathing suits, when they came off coast guard vessels and private boats. The operation continued through the night.

It was the deadliest fire season to hit Greece in more than a decade. More than 60 people were killed in 2007 when huge fires swept across the southern Peloponnese region.

"It's a difficult night for Greece," Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said after cutting short a trip to Bosnia and returning to Athens.

Showers that passed over the Greek capital Monday missed the two big fires. Heavy rain is forecast across southern Greece on Wednesday.

Forest fires are common in Greece during the hot, dry summers, and temperatures recently hit highs up to 104 Fahrenheit.