At dawn on Sunday, the government declared a state of emergency due to a forest fire that had broken out early on Saturday afternoon in the Leiria district. Already 43 are confirmed dead.
The deadly forest fire swept over villages and countryside at Pedrógão Grande, 50 kilometres south-east of Coimbra, trapping many in their cars and overwhelming those who tried to run away from the blaze which has left 59 people injured, including several fire fighters and a child.
The Prime Minister, António Costa, said this morning, "Unfortunately this seems to be the greatest loss of human life we have seen in recent years from forest fires." The death toll could rise as the full picture of the tragedy emerges.
The Secretary of State for Internal Affairs, Jorge Gomes, reported that three people had died from smoke inhalation and 18 people had been found burnt to death in their cars near Figueiró dos Vinhos and Castanheira de Pera. Other bodies were found near vehicles as terrified travellers had tried to flee on foot.
Around 600 fire fighters are tackling the fire with six of them already seriously injured and unconfirmed reports that two are as missing. Hospitals in in Lisbon, Coimbra and Oporto have been taking in the emergency patients.
Houses in the Pedrógão Grande area have been destroyed by fire and the death toll inevitably will rise as the fire rages uncontrollably on four fronts across the dry countryside where temperatures this weekend have been over 40°C.
The flames spread to Castanheira de Pêra and Figueiró dos Vinhos parishes. By the end of Saturday, villages had been surrounded by fire and isolated, with the situation aggravated by power and communications outages. Many inhabitants began to leave their homes as the flames came closer. The mayor of Pedrógão Grande warned that there were villages "in great danger, completely surrounded" including Mosteiro, Vila Facaia, Coelhal, Escalos Cimeiros, Regadas e Graça and no firemen nearby.
Gomes said the fire was out of control, "There has been no decrease in intensity, everything has remained the same since the last report, with four active fronts, two of which are extremely strong."
The minister was briefing the media early this morning in Pedrógão Grande, as he waited for two Canadair water-bombing aeroplanes on loan from Spain and another expected from France to bolster the massive air and land effort that only has been hampered by around 60 other fires in Portugal needing urgent attention.
None-the-less, the Pedrógão Grande fire has 687 fire fighters with 224 vehicles on duty this morning in a huge effort. Many roads remain cut off, including the IC8 between Pombal and Vila Velha do Ródão, and the main road between Tomar and Coimbra.
Gomes said the "The fire started like a normal fire, but at 6 pm there was an unexpected change as very strong winds, together with thunderstorms, fanned the flames and made them impossible to control."
The Police said that the blaze was not started on purpose as - it was a dry thunderstorm that caused the flames.
"...everything points very clearly so that they are natural causes. We even found the tree that was struck by lightning," said the national director of the Judicial Police.
* UPDATE
The number of people who died in the fire that broke out on Saturday in Pedrógão Grande has increased to 62 with 30 trapped in their vehicles as flames swept across roads.
Jorge Gomes sdaid that this is one of the biggest tragedies in Portugal of the last 50 years, caused by a fire.
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