Two Vietnamese tourists died at sea in Greece on Friday, the coastguard said, as gale-force winds confined many ferries to port, disrupting travel for tens of thousands of summer travellers, and also sparked fires.

A coastguard spokeswoman said a man and woman had died at the Sarakiniko beach on the tourist island of Milos in the Cyclades, as firefighters battled blazes near Athens and the island of Cephalonia.

"The man and woman were found unconscious in the sea and were taken to the local health centre," the spokeswoman said.

"They were Vietnamese tourists on a cruise ship group. The woman fell in the water and the man apparently tried to save her," she said.

The civil protection ministry said wind gusts would reach 88 kilometres (54 miles) an hour, especially in the southern Aegean

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