- Greece evacuates 19,000 people, some by boat
- Tourists flee hotels and congregate on beaches
- “We went from paradise to hell,” says one tourist
- Operators cancel flights to Rhodes
- Climate change exacerbates heat waves
RHODES, Greece, July 23 (Portal) – Thousands of tourists and residents fleeing wildfires on the Greek island of Rhodes took refuge in schools and temporary shelters on Sunday. Many were evacuated on private boats as the blaze threatened resorts and coastal villages.
Thousands spent the night on beaches and on roads during what is believed to be Greece’s largest safe transport of residents and tourists in emergencies.
About 19,000 people were forced from their homes and hotels overnight as the fires, which have been burning since Wednesday, gathered momentum and swept through the forests until the flames reached coastal towns on the island’s south-east coast.
Some holidaymakers said they walked for miles in the scorching heat to get to safety. The fires left trees black and scrawny. Dead animals lay on the road next to burnt-out cars.
Rhodes is an extremely popular holiday destination, particularly with visitors from the UK.
Tour operators Jet2, TUI and Correndon have canceled flights to Rhodes, which lies southeast of mainland Greece and is known for its beaches and historical sites.
“The smoke rose. So we all set off on foot. I ran 12 miles (19 km) yesterday in this heat. It took me four hours,” said British tourist Chris Freestone.
He was speaking from a gymnasium alongside evacuees lying on mattresses in the island’s capital, Rhodes Town, which was unaffected by the fires further south.
TUI said its teams were doing everything they could to support customers and had deployed additional staff in what it called a “difficult and evolving situation”.
Another holidaymaker, Fay Mortimer, from Cheshire in northern England, said the experience was appalling.
“I’ve never been so scared in my entire life,” she said.
The Greek Ministry of Transport said that TUI and Jet2, which handles the majority of tourism to Rhodes, have scheduled 14 scheduled flights from Rhodes Airport and will carry about 2,700 passengers by 03:00 local time (24:00 GMT).
Shane and Charlie Murphy-Jones were in Rhodes for a wedding when they received a warning to vacate their rented villa on Saturday night. “We went from paradise to hell and it was crazy,” said Shane Murphy-Jones after arriving at London’s Gatwick Airport late Sunday.
TEMPERATURE PEAK PROTECTS FLAME
Fires are common in Greece, but climate change has brought even more extreme heat waves to southern Europe and many parts of the world.
[1/15]Tourists queue at check-in counters while waiting for departing planes at the airport after being evacuated after a forest fire raged on Rhodes island, Greece, July 24, 2023. Portal/Nicolas Economou
In many parts of Greece, temperatures have been above 40 degrees Celsius for the past week. Besides Rhodes, rescue services were busy with fires on the islands of Euboea, east of Athens and Aigio, southwest of Athens, and on the island of Corfu, where authorities ordered the precautionary evacuation of several small settlements.
The fire on Corfu, an island west of Greece, burned in a big front. Boats have been dispatched to the area to evacuate residents by sea, a government official said.
A fire department official said the forest fires in Rhodes had hit 10% of hotels in the central and south-eastern parts of the island. The northern and western parts were unaffected. The government official, speaking from Corfu, said the fires in Rhodes were largely contained.
Coast Guard vessels and private boats whisked more than 3,000 tourists off the beaches on Saturday. Many people fled hotels as huge flames reached the coastal villages of Kiotari, Gennadi, Pefki, Lindos, Lardos and Kalathos. Under a red sky, crowds gathered on the streets while smoke hung over the deserted shores.
Pictures and videos posted by tourists on social media showed residents using their own cars or packing tourists into trucks and pickups to take them to safety.
In Lindos, famous for its acropolis set on a massive rock within medieval walls, a fire charred the hilltop and buildings.
Thanasis Virinis, a deputy mayor of Rhodes, told Mega Television on Sunday that between 4,000 and 5,000 people were being held in makeshift shelters.
According to the authorities, the evacuees were taken to conference centers and school buildings, where they were provided with food, water and medical assistance.
LOCAL GENEROUSNESS
British, Dutch, French and German nationals were among the tourists visiting Rhodes. A hotelier said that Rhodes can receive 150,000 visitors at a time in high season. The island’s resident population is around 125,000.
A British tourist thanked locals for their generosity in an interview with Greek TV, saying shops refused to pay for water and food and small boats first took women and children to safety before returning to the men.
As crowds swarmed Rhodes Airport, the Greek Foreign Ministry announced that it would set up a helpdesk for people who had lost travel documents.
According to the German Travel Association DRV, there were around 20,000 German tourists on the island, but only a small proportion were affected by the evacuations.
More than 250 firefighters, supported by 18 aircraft, built firebreaks to shield a dense forest and other residential areas.
Nevertheless, some tourists still arrived.
Pawel Kozlowski from Warsaw landed on Sunday afternoon and drove through Kiotari. “There are burned cars, power lines are on the ground, we saw a broken power pole that is still smoking. (It) looks like a war zone,” he said.
Reporting by Fedja Gruolvic in Rhodes, Renee Maltezou and Angeliki Koutantou in Athens; Additional reporting by Elizabeth Piper and Hollie Adams in London, Christoph Steitz in Frankfurt, Andi Kranz in Cologne, Mathieu Rosemain in Paris and Justyna Pawkak in Warsaw; writing by Frank Jack Daniel; Edited by Barbara Lewis, Frances Kerry and Chris Reese
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