Vegetation fires that broke out in northeastern Greece, near the border with Turkey, continued to burn uncontrollably on Sunday for the ninth day in a row, DPA and Agerpres write.

The conditions facing firefighters are very difficult and there is currently no hope of containing the outbreaks, Dimitris Petrovich, the region’s deputy governor, told ERT on Sunday morning.

“Unfortunately, we do not see that the outbreak can be contained and brought under control,” he added.

Meteorologists expect the wind to change direction during Monday and the flames could spread to even larger areas, a Greek official said.

The forests in the Dadia region are virgin forests and have been deliberately left in their natural state without controlled logging, Dimitris Petrovich said. This detail makes the work of firefighters even more difficult.

Regional authorities again called for several fire brigades to be sent to the area.

Tens of thousands of hectares have already been devastated in northeastern Greece

In northeastern Greece, approximately 74,000 hectares have already been devastated, including 13,000 hectares in Dadia National Park, Greek media reported. The European Commission has announced that this is the largest single outbreak of forest fire in the history of the European Union.

On Tuesday, the charred bodies of a group of 18 people, who were probably migrants, were found in Evros. Two more bodies were discovered on Friday.

Forests and bushes continued to burn in other regions of Greece, but most of the outbreaks were under control or became controlled over the weekend.

Among the fires currently under control by firefighters are those northwest of Athens and on the islands of Andros and Evia.

Greece’s civil defense announced that the overall risk of forest fires has decreased compared to last week.