PEDRÓGÃO GRANDE, Portugal — More than 1,000 firefighters on Monday battled a giant forest fire that swept through central Portugal at the weekend, killing at least 62 people.

The country was in mourning after the deadliest such disaster in its recent history, with many victims burnt as they were trapped in their cars around the epicenter in Pedrogao Grande.

“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.

Portugal’s national route 236 was transformed into a road of hell as the ferocious blaze ripped through the wooded countryside.

Although the searing temperatures had dropped slightly on Monday, the fire was still raging, spreading to neighboring regions of Castelo Branco and Coimbra.

Firefighters were continuing a grim search for bodies, with Costa warning on Sunday that the death toll could still rise.

“Our pain is immense,” said Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. “We feel a sense of injustice because the tragedy has hit those Portuguese of whom one speaks little — those living in an isolated rural zone.”

Police chief Almeida Rodrigues blamed dry thunderstorms for the blaze which broke out on Saturday in Pedrogao Grande, saying a tree had been struck by lightning.

“Everything burnt very quickly given the strong winds. The flames passed within two or three kilometers of my house,” said local resident Isabel Ferreira, 62.

“It was really hell. I thought the end of the world had come,” said Maria de Fatima Nunes, a survivor.

The wooded hills in the area north of Lisbon, which 24 hours before had glowed bright green with eucalyptus and pine trees, was gutted by the flames.

A thick layer of white smoke blanketed either side of a motorway for about 20 km on Sunday, as blackened trees leaned listlessly over charred soil.

A burnt-out car sat outside partly destroyed and abandoned houses, while a few meters away police in face masks surrounded the corpse of a man hidden under a white sheet.

Secretary of State for the Interior Jorge Gomes said 18 of those burned to death had been trapped in their cars engulfed by flames on the road between Figueiro dos Vinhos and Castanheira de Pera.

Other bodies were found in houses in isolated areas. At least three villages near Pedrogao Grande were evacuated.

Another 62 people were injured, with five in a critical state including a child and four firefighters.

Farmers Luisilda Malheiro and her husband Eduardo Abreu, both 62, managed to flee the ravaged N-236.

“We escaped in time, me on the tractor and he with our van,” Luisilda said.

“Our house is still there but we lost everything else: the chickens, the rabbits and the ducks. We were only able to save two goats,” she said.

But farmer Fernando Pais stayed at home with his wife and son in Trespostos, a hamlet in the area.

“If I leave my house, everything will burn down because there is no one to help us,” he said. The family has been using a hosepipe to keep the flames at bay. — AFP