'Portugal weeps' as deadly forest fire rages

Pedrógão Grande : More than 1,000 firefighters were on Monday battling to get control of a massive forest fire that swept through central Portugal at the weekend, as the nation mourned the 64 killed in the flames.

Many victims were burnt as they were trapped in their cars around the epicentre of the blaze in Pedrogao Grande, in what is the deadliest such disaster in Portugal's recent history.

"Portugal weeps for Pedrogao Grande," said the I newspaper while mainstream Publico's headline simply read "Why?"

"The fire has reached a level of human tragedy that we have never seen before," said a visibly moved Prime Minister Antonio Costa, who announced three days of mourning from Sunday.

By Monday evening the death toll had hit 64, officials said. The total number of injured in the region of the fire -- which authorities said was 70 percent under control -- stood at 135 since Saturday.

Portugal's national Route 236 was transformed into "a road of hell" where 47 of the fatalities occurred as the ferocious blaze ripped through the wooded countryside. 

Most of them were families who had spent the afternoon at a beach on a nearby river, local authorities said.

Although the searing temperatures had dropped slightly on Monday, the fire was still raging, spreading to neighbouring regions of Castelo Branco and Coimbra, as firefighters continued their grim search for bodies.