NICOSIA, July 24 (Xinhua) -- Cyprus sent a team of 60 forest firefighters to Greece to help battle killer fires that claimed the lives of over 60 people, the Ministry of Justice and Public Order said on Tuesday.

It added that the team was joined by two rescuers and two paramedics, who flew to Athens aboard a transport plane of the Greek Air Force.

The director of the Cypriot Forestry Department said he had been in touch with Greek officials overnight, who told him that the high number of casualties was due to the fact that the flames were driven by the winds towards the coasts east of Athens where many families had been holidaying.

He said that in one instance paramedics came upon 26 dead people huddled in a small opening in the forest where they took refuge with their vehicles but were trapped by the raging flames.

The dispatch of the firefighters was part of a program of cooperation between Cyprus and Greece for fighting forest fires which are frequent during summer months.

Israel is also part of the arrangement within the framework of a tripartite cooperation agreement.

The Cypriot airports authority said the fire disrupted flights to Athens as several incoming and outgoing flights were delayed because thick smoke covered the region of Athens airport.

So far, it is not clear what ignited the fires.