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Rhodes fires: Brits urged to evacuate areas of Greek holiday island as inferno sees thousands flee hotels & beaches
BRIT tourists have been urged to evacuate parts of Rhodes as an out-of-control wildfire sweeps across the Greek holiday island.
Up to 19,000 locals and tourists have been forced to flee in the biggest evacuation effort Greece has ever seen as the fires spin out of control on the popular island.
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Greek authorities are saying it is the largest evacuation mission that has ever taken place in the country as they battle with the massive inferno.
They said that 16,000 people were evacuated by land and 3,000 by sea from 12 villages and several hotels.
The flames have burned for nearly a week on the island after Greece was battered by an extended spell of extreme heat that has made it challenging to contain the blaze.
Extraordinary scenes show columns of people carrying their luggage and children while trying to escape.
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The fire has scorched swathes of forest and made its way into villages and towns since breaking out in a mountainous area on Tuesday.
The blaze spread to at least three hotels in the seaside village of Kiotari which caught fire on Saturday.
British Embassy officials in Athens urged Brits to leave the area on Saturday evening - as holidays and flights to Rhodes continue to be cancelled.
And the battle is expected to worsen today, with more whipping winds blasting across the island and driving the flames.
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"The wind is expected to become more intense from 12 to 5 pm, without excluding the possibility that could happen earlier," said fire department spokesman Vassilis Vathrakoyiannis.
“This is not a fire that will be over tomorrow or the day after tomorrow,” he added. “It’ll be troubling us for days.”
Yiannis Artopios, a fire service spokesman, said: “The focus now is to contain two major fronts in the south and central part of the island.
"The regions hit so far may account for less than 10 per cent of the island’s hotel infrastructure, but if left unchecked the blazes can threaten the remaining 90 per cent.”
Although hotter, drier and windy summers have brought more fires in recent years, it has not been confirmed how the wildfire first started.
Artopios said authorities were questioning suspected arsonists.
“Fires are not sparked on their own,” he told Skai TV. “They are triggered by the human hand, be it intentionally or not.
"We currently have several people being questioned in connection with their probable involvement.”
The fires during the night reached the village of Laerma and were burning houses and a church there, while many hotels were damaged by the flames that on some occasions reached the sea.
Over 250 firefighters, backed by aircraft water-bombers and reinforcements from Slovakia, battled three fronts on Sunday.
They are setting up firebreaks to prevent flames from spreading to a dense forest or threatening more residential areas.
However, high winds forecast for Sunday are expected to hamper firefighters' battle to contain a blaze burning out of control on the Greek island.
Fleeing Brits have spent the night in makeshift camps across the island - with young kids forced to sleep on mattresses in classrooms and gyms.
The British ambassador to Greece said the Foreign Office had sent a "rapid deployment team" to help UK tourists who were among the thousands forced to flee.
Another British tourist who was forced to escape from the fires, described it feeling like "the end of the world".
Londoner Ian Morrison was staying in the Kiotari area when he watched the sea become "black with soot" and ash was falling on people's heads.
After walking for miles and eventually hitching a ride to Gennadi beach, he told : "Over the next few hours, the amount of people in that area just increased and increased.
"Then as light fell, people became increasingly anxious about how they were going to get out from this.
"It was literally like the end of the world," he said as flames threatened to chase him down.
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British holidaygoer James Beale was on his way to his hotel with his partner yesterday when their minibus was stopped and held for almost six hours.
"The whole skyline became covered in smoke, fire engines and police blasted past and suddenly we couldn't see anything," he told The Sun.
"The driver didn't speak English and we had no idea what was happening."
They never made it to their hotel and instead have been sleeping on a sheet on the floor of a hotel as they wait for a flight out of the chaos.
"We're not in a bad place like other people, but no one knows anything and Tui is just telling us to sit and wait," he added.
Mum-of-three Helen Tonks, of Manchester, flew into Rhodes on Saturday night with her three daughters and husband ahead of a two-week sunshine break.
She told The Sun: “There was absolutely no communication whatsoever. We got out here and were told our hotel was among those evacuated.
"They put us on a coach and brought us to a school in Rhodes old town. There are hundreds of us here. We’ve been put up in makeshift dorms in classrooms.
"Dozens are sleeping on mattresses on the basketball court in the gymnasium.”
Jet2 has now cancelled all flights and holidays that were due to depart to Rhodes today.
The statement added: "We will fly those five empty aircraft to Rhodes with no customers onboard, so that we can bring customers back to the UK on their scheduled flight."
Tui - who have 40,000 tourists in Rhodes, 7,800 of which are impacted by the fires - have also now cancelled all their flights and holidays to the island up to and including Tuesday July 25.
Coastguard vessels and more than 20 private boats took part in an operation to evacuate swathes of tourists and local residents late into the night on Saturday.
PE teacher Dan Jones, of Torquay, said: “We are safe for now. The scariest moment in my entire life.
"After wading into the sea and climbing on a fishing trawler, we are away from danger."
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It comes as Greece continues to face high temperatures - with forecasts of up to 45C going into next week.
The country also experienced an "insidious and dangerous" heat blast earlier this month with temperatures also soaring to 40C.
Weather experts have declared 2023 an El Niño year - a natural phenomenon that occurs cyclically and causes fluctuations in the global climate.
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The UN’s World Meteorological Organization said it will raise temperatures around the world, and the effect is likely to continue for the rest of the year.
And despite the heat this summer, Europe's record temperature of 48.8C - recorded in 2021 in Sicily - has not been reached and is currently not forecast to be broken.
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