Greece wildfires: Rhodes tourists sleep on airport floor awaiting evacuation
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Up to 10,000 British tourists are feared to be on the fire-ravaged Greek island of Rhodes, a minister has warned, as one holidaymaker who arrived to find their hotel had burnt down described the situation as a “living nightmare”.
Around 2,500 people have already been evacuated from Corfu, fire officials said, which is experiencing dozens of wildfires, after the blaze in Rhodes prompted “the biggest evacuation” in Greek history.
Footage showed flames engulfing Corfu as smoke and orange haze covered the night skies. The fire broke out on the northern part of the island which is popular with British tourists. Those in Santa, Megoula, Porta, Palia Perithia and Sinies were told to evacuate to Kasiopi.
The evacuation order came after Jet2 and Tui cancelled all flights to Rhodes. The Jet2 planes were scheduled to depart full of tourists bound for the Greek island. But the planes left empty and will instead be used to evacuate holidaymakers fleeing the blaze.
Fires burning since Wednesday on Rhodes forced the evacuation of 19,000 people over the weekend as an inferno reached coastal resorts on the island’s southeastern coast.
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1690199440Chilling satellite image shows scale of wildfires in Rhodes
This satellite image shows the area affected by wildfires in Rhodes, Greece on Sunday.
An eruption of wildfires has forced the “biggest evacuation in Greek history” as around 2,500 have been evacuated from Corfu.
(Reuters)
Maryam Zakir-Hussain24 July 2023 12:50
1690204304‘We would never have come’: British tourist lands in Rhodes to find hotel burnt down
Helen Tonks, a mother-of-six from Cheshire, said she was flown into a “living nightmare” by Tui at 11pm on Saturday and discovered her hotel had been closed.
She told The Sun newspaper: “We landed and were told ‘Sorry, you can’t go to your hotel – it’s burned down’.
“We had no idea the fires were this bad or as close to the hotels as they were. Tui said nothing, not even when our flight was delayed. Even the captain’s chat on the plane was upbeat.
“We would never have come if we had known.”
Andy Gregory24 July 2023 14:11
1690203014Satellite images show Rhodes wildfires from above
Satellite images taken by the firm Maxar Technologies shows an aerial view of the smoke rising from Rhodes:
(Maxar/Reuters)
Andy Gregory24 July 2023 13:50
1690201949Tourists should view Greek wildfires as a ‘big, big warning’, says leading UK climate expert
Tourists planning trips to the Mediterranean should see the Greek wildfires as a “big, big warning”, one of the UK’s leading climate scientists has said.
Sir Da King, former UK chief scientific adviser and chair of the Climate Crisis Advisory Group, said many people will die from heat stress because of the relentless heatwaves over southern Europe, where millions of Britons travel on holiday each year.
Speaking to the PA news agency from another Greek island, Sir Da warned tourists to take care in the heat, adding that he has “no doubt” that the extreme temperatures are due to melting ice in the Arctic caused by greenhouse gases emitted by people heating the Earth’s atmosphere.
He said: “If you are in one of these very warm areas and you haven’t got air conditioning indoors you could suffer terribly – many people will die from heat stress.
“You must have moving air – it makes an enormous difference. If there’s a large fan, preferentially a roof fan, that is moving the air in the room … because moving the air helps to remove the perspiration from your body and keeps you cooler.
“I wouldn’t be too dogmatic about advice but, certainly, there’s a big, big warning this summer. To anyone planning to go overseas for the summer, ‘Be very careful’ would be my advice.”
Andy Gregory24 July 2023 13:32
1690200016Downing Street defends not discouraging Britons from going to Rhodes
Downing Street has defended not discouraging Britons from going to Rhodes after it sent a Foreign Office team to help holidaymakers amid fires.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “Our advice is focused on the safety of British nationals and enabling people to make an informed decision about the situation on the ground.
“The current situation is impacting on a limited area in Rhodes and whilst it’s right to keep it under review and it’s possible that the advice may change we do not want to act out of proportion to the situation on the ground.”
He said there are “not currently” plans to get the RAF to help people leave.
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Maryam Zakir-Hussain24 July 2023 13:00
1690198770‘Like a disaster movie’: Brit family in Corfu describe holiday horror and escape plan
A British family was forced to flee in the middle of the night as the wildfires ravaging parts of Greece broke out in Corfu on Sunday evening and came within metres of their holiday home.
Rebecca Bell, 50, of Sheffield, was among those who received an evacuation order via a text message overnight as dozens of blazes erupted on the western island, with more than 2,000 people moved to safety.
“It did feel like the end of the world yesterday,” she told The Independent from the village of Sinies, describing the intensity of the heat, “banks of flames” cascading down the hillside, and a “yellow glow of fire” in the sky.
Maryam Zakir-Hussain24 July 2023 12:39
1690198604Simon Calder: BA and easyJet still selling flights to Rhodes despite wildfires
Tourists have been forced to flee for their safety following the devastating fires, but some flights will still take off carrying British passengers to Rhodes today. The travel journalist also revealed many people with holidays booked are still travelling to Rhodes as normal, despite the warnings.
Jet2 has this morning announced it will operate three repatriation flights from Rhodes to bring customers back to the UK. The additional services are on top of the 50 plus scheduled flights operating between Rhodes and the UK up until Sunday.
Simon Calder: BA and easyJet still selling flights to Rhodes despite wildfires
The Independent’s travel correspondent Simon Calder has said it is extraordinary that a number of flights to Rhodes are still scheduled today, despite widlfires ravaging the Greek island. Tourists have been forced to flee for their safety following the devastating fires, but some flights will still take off carrying British passengers to Rhodes today. The travel journalist also revealed many people with holidays booked are still travelling to Rhodes as normal, despite the warnings. Jet2 has this morning announced it will operate three repatriation flights from Rhodes to bring customers back to the UK. The additional services are on top of the 50 plus scheduled flights operating between Rhodes and the UK up until Sunday.
Maryam Zakir-Hussain24 July 2023 12:36
1690197701German government convenes crisis meeting over Rhodes wildfires
The German government is to convene a crisis meeting on Monday to discuss the impact of wildfires on the Greek island of Rhodes on German holidaymakers, according to a foreign ministry spokesperson.
Speaking during a regular news conference in Berlin, the spokesperson said the crisis meeting at 1100 GMT will allow the German government to “coordinate with our colleagues on the ground and then decide on possible further measures”.
An interior ministry spokesperson said that German federal police and fire fighters were already assisting Greek authorities in bringing affected people back to the mainland.
Fires burning since Wednesday have forced tens of thousands of tourists and residents to flee the island, with many evacuated on private boats as flames threatened resorts and coastal villages.
(EPA)
Maryam Zakir-Hussain24 July 2023 12:21
1690196804In pictures: Fire rages in Rhodes
Pictures show flames burning on the Aegean Sea island of Rhodes, southeastern Greece.
(AP)
(AP)
Maryam Zakir-Hussain24 July 2023 12:06
1690193660Jet2 adds more flights to bring Britons back from Rhodes
British travel company Jet2 said it would operate three extra flights on Monday night to bring more of its customers back to the United Kingdom, after wildfires on the Greek island of Rhodes left them stranded after they evacuated hotels.
Jet2 said repatriation flights to Manchester, Leeds Bradford and Birmingham would bring about 600 people home, on top of 50 Rhodes to UK services it already has scheduled this week.
The company said it was also flying out more staff to help assist customers who had to flee their resorts and are now camped out in evacuation centres or waiting at the airport.
“We have a significantly expanded presence in Rhodes, with a huge team of experienced colleagues proing all the support we can for our customers,” Jet2 said in a statement on Monday.
There are about 7,000-10,000 Britons on Rhodes currently, according to a junior minister, and like Jet2, TUI and easyJet, are both putting on additional services.
EasyJet said it would have two repatriation flights on Monday and another on Tuesday, on top of its usual schedule of departures, and would keep under review whether it needed to add more.
Maryam Zakir-Hussain24 July 2023 11:14
