THOUSANDS have been left stranded and two dead after gale force winds have pummelled Greece.

Travel plans have been disrupted for hundreds of tourists bound for a number of holiday hotspot islands, including Mykonos and Naxos.

A sailing ban has been issued as authorities have urged travellers to seek alternative routes amid raging winds across the islands.

The restriction does not apply, however, to ferries heading to and from the nearby Saronic Gulf islands.

The civil protection ministry said wind gusts would reach 88 kilometres (54 miles) an hour, especially in the southern Aegean and the Sea of Crete, sparking travel chaos for thousands of tourists.

Meanwhile, passengers are suffering mounting queues thanks to dozens of cancelled ferries at the ports of Piraeus, Rafina and Lavrio.

Boats for Syros, Tiros and popular party island Mykono will not head out today but scheduled routes from Piraeus on Saturday will depart as planned.

Trips to Syros, Mykonos, Evdilos, Karlovasi have also been cancelled today due to the adverse weather.

Meanwhile, two Vietnamese tourists died at sea in Greece on Friday, the coastguard said, as gale-force winds lashed the island.

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

While the woman’s body has been recovered, authorities are still searching for the man’s as an investigation is underway into the cause of their deaths.

The coastguard today said most ferries were unable to depart on schedule from Piraeus and other Athens ports, especially to the Cyclades or Dodecanese islands.

Maritime connections with the Saronic islands near Athens including Aegina, Hydra, Poros and Spetses and the Ionian Sea are unaffected, it added.

Elsewhere, the Athens National Observatory warned there was a “very high potential for wind-driven forest fires”, particularly in the east and south of the country.

And of Thursday, the mayor of Athens shut down the National Garden after a tree fell in one of the capital’s busiest high streets, narrowly missing shoppers.

Forecasters suggest the adverse weather conditions will hold until Saturday with strong winds a common occurrence in Greece at this time of year.

This comes as over 200 firefighters backed by three aircraft and five helicopters were battling a fire – fuelled by the massive wind gusts – in Keratea, east of Athens.

Multiple communities were forced to evacuate as strong winds fanned the flames across stretches of the Greek town, local firefighters said.

Costas Tsigkas, head of the association of Greek firefighter officers, told ERT state television: “It’s a difficult fire…(owing) to wind gusts.”

National weather service EMY said the phenomenon would weaken after midnight.