More than 100 wildfires stretched thousands of firefighters to the limit in northern Portugal on Wednesday, with seven deaths since the worst spate of fires in recent years spread out of control over the weekend.

Wildfires sweeping across northern Portugal have claimed seven lives, injured dozens, and destroyed thousands of acres of forest, with officials suspecting that arson may have played a role in the devastation.

Nine aircraft were backing more than 700 firefighters combating flames near the town of Castro Daire in the district. Spain, Italy, France and Morocco have sent water-bombing aircraft. Data from the European Forest Fire Information Service showed that large-scale blazes had burned an area of more than 105,

At least seven people have died after wildfires in the Aveiro and Viseu areas of Portugal, although cooler weather has helped tackle the flames. Dozens of homes have been destroyed and tens of thousands of hectares of forest and scrubland have been lost to the flames.

Thousands of firefighters continued their efforts to extinguish over 100 wildfires in northern Portugal on Wednesday.

A wave of deadly wildfires in Portugal has pushed emergency services to the limit and much-needed reinforcements arrived on Wednesday from Spain and Morocco, authorities said, as cooler weather also brought a glimmer of hope.

Portugal has brought under control the remaining forest fires it battled this week in the north of the country, rescuers said on Friday.More than 120,000 hectares across Portugal had been burnt by wildfires since the start of the year,