About 350 firefighters and soldiers in Greece, assisted by water-dropping planes and dozens of fire engines, are struggling to contain a large wildfire raging for three days through pine forests north of Athens.

Two large forest fires, the first of the summer season, are burning near Athens, aided by gale-force winds of up to 40 miles an hour.

A Cypriot Helios Airways jet with 115 passengers and six crew members on board crashed today north of Athens, the Defence Ministry and fire department said.