Rescuers carried out “the biggest evacuation operation ever in Greece” on the tourist island of Rhodes, where a fierce fire raged for the sixth straight day on Sunday, the police spokeswoman told AFP.
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“This is the largest evacuation operation ever carried out in Greece (…) Everything went well. “Everyone, especially the tourists, followed our order,” said Konstantia Dimoglidou.
Around 30,000 people had to leave their homes or hotels because of the fire in the east of this island in the Dodecanese archipelago on Saturday, as the tourist season is in full swing.
According to the police quoted by the Greek news agency ANA, around 19,000 people were evacuated preventively, 16,000 of them by land and 3,000 by land.
A total of 12 towns were evacuated, including Lindos, one of the island’s main tourist attractions with its hilltop Acropolis.
Cédric Guisset, a Belgian tourist accommodated on Saturday and interviewed by RTBF radio, explained that he had to leave his hotel on foot with no scheduled drop-off point after receiving warning messages on his mobile phone.
At the hotel, “they didn’t even know, we actually just took our ID cards, water and something to cover our faces and heads,” this Belgian told public radio RTBF.
The approximately 30,000 people who had to leave their homes or hotels were accommodated in gyms, schools or conference centers for the night.
Panagiotis Dimelis, a local elected official from Archangelos village, described “an unprecedented situation” on Skai TV.
The fight to contain the fire will continue for several days, according to the authorities.
The wind blowing it up “should pick up between midday and 17:00 (14:00 GMT),” warned fire department spokesman Vassilis Vathrakoyiannis.
Temperatures above 44 °C are expected in Greece on Sunday.
According to the National Meteorological Observatory, this country is “likely” experiencing the longest heatwave in its history.
The Greek Foreign Ministry has opened a crisis unit in Athens to facilitate the repatriation of foreign tourists.
The island of Rhodes, with more than 100,000 inhabitants, is one of the most popular destinations in Greece with both British, German and French tourists.
Rhodes recorded around 2.5 million tourist arrivals last year.