Ash rains on tourists fleeing the beaches of Rhodes, where firefighters have been battling blazes caused by searing temperatures and high winds for six days. The images, taken from the Greek island engulfed in flames, are surreal: they show a stream of people walking briskly across the street, luggage in hand and children on their shoulders, looking for somewhere safe.
Evacuations on the island began Saturday night, the largest such operation Greece has ever seen.
The first police reports speak of 19,000 people, including holidaymakers and local residents, who managed to leave the threatened areas and were welcomed to gyms, schools and convention centers. Two thousand people stranded on beaches near Kiotari and Lardos, where flames continue to spiral out of control, were evacuated by sea on Saturday night in an operation involving about twenty boats.
Due to strong winds and flames, up to 5 meters high in some places, the Dodecanese Islands Police Directorate informed that the following centers were evacuated for prevention purposes: Kiotari, Gennadi, Pylonas, Laerma, Lardos, Lindos, Kalathos Malona, Asklipio, Pevkos, Massair, Haraki. Most people were transported by coaches, Coast Guard vessels, and private boats.
But not everyone made it. A British tourist told the BBC she should have been evacuated from the hotel with her sister and daughter but instead found herself stranded on a beach with hundreds of other people, at the mercy of fear and the intense heat. Meteorologists have warned that the upcoming July weekend will be the hottest in Greece in 50 years, with temperatures reaching 45°C.
Strong winds and a six-mile fire front stretching from the center of the island to the east coast are making for extreme conditions, fire department spokesman Vassilis Varthakogiannis told local television. “The flames are still out of control, this is not a fire that will end tomorrow or the day after – he predicted – it will continue for days.”
In Athens, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had activated its crisis management unit to facilitate the evacuation of foreign nationals to Greece. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis traveled to the National Coordination Center for Civil Defense Operations and Crisis Management in Athens and kept himself updated on the progress of the fires and efforts to accommodate the island’s evacuated visitors.