More than 19,000 people have been evacuated from Rhodes after wildfires tore through the tourist island for the sixth day running.
The Greek Ministry of Climate Change and Civil Protection said it was “the largest evacuation from a wildfire in the country” as a string of airlines cancelled flights to the island on Sunday.
Thousands of tourists and residents were forced to huddle in schools and shelters over the weekend as flames gutted resorts and coastal villages. It comes amid a prolonged heatwave across southern Europe, with temperatures in Greece expected to exceed 40C in the coming days.
The wildfires, which have burned for nearly a week, forced coastguard vessels and private boats to carry more than 3,000 tourists from beaches on Saturday. Around 16,000 people were evacuated by land, authorities said.
Jet2 Holidays cancelled all flights to the island until July 30 and said it would send empty planes to bring stranded Britons home, while Tui said it would cancel all flights and holidays until Tuesday. Ryanair said its flights to and from the island were unaffected by the fire.
The British ambassador to Greece said the Foreign Office had sent a “rapid deployment team” to help UK tourists who were among thousands forced to flee for their lives on Saturday as the wildfire spread.
Eileen Johnston, 71, fled the Lindian Village Beach Resort with her grandson and daughter on Saturday as the blaze ripped through the south-eastern part of the island.
Ms Johnston, from North London, described seeing “a great big cloud” hanging over the hotel on Saturday morning before being told to leave immediately.
“I have breathing problems and I’m diabetic, I felt like I couldn’t breathe as the smoke was so thick. I was really worried,” she told the Standard.
Evacuees were taken by bus to a nearby restaurant around 15 minutes from the hotel and told to wait, she said.
“They left us there for more than 8 hours with no water or food, and no one came to see us. Children were crying, one woman was hysterical. It was a horrible situation.”
Ms Johnson said she could “see the flames coming nearer” as panic set in among the group.
“Everyone started crying. They kept advising us to go down to the beach as it was apparently the best place to be, so people with suitcases went running down there.”
The group were then led in the pitch black to a bus station where they were told that a bus would pick them up to take them to another hotel. Once they arrived, Ms Johnston and her family were told there were no rooms available.
“People were lying on towels and trying to sleep because there was nothing to sit on. It was a nightmare. I was exhausted and felt like I couldn’t keep my eyes open. The stress of it was really getting to me.”
She added: “It’s a shame as the first 7 days of our holiday were perfect but this was a complete disaster. It wasn’t just our hotel, every traveller on our part of the island was being dumped in different places and told to wait for a bus.”
The Standard have approached Hilton for comment.
Dan Jones, a sports teacher from Torquay, Devon, had to climb onto a fishing trawler with his sons on Saturday night, describing it as “the scariest moment in my entire life”, adding: “What brave boys.”
Ian Murison, from London, said the evacuation was “like the end of the world” after walking 4 miles in scorching heat towards Gennadi beach to escape the flames.
“Thousands moved on to the beach. It was impossible to get on to coaches because people just ran. It was literally like the end of the world and the flames were now far more visible because of course it’s night-time and we couldn’t see that during the day,” he told Sky News.
“Suddenly there were leaping flames into the sky, and the sky was completely orange in the distance, so that sort of set about a level of panic.”
Thanasis Virinis, a vice mayor of Rhodes, told Mega television on Sunday that between 4,000-5,000 people were in temporary accommodation, calling for donations of essentials such as mattresses and bedclothes.
Evacuees took to hotels, indoor stadiums, conference centres and school buildings, where they were given food, water and medical assistance, authorities said.
One pregnant woman and another person were hospitalised, fire brigade spokesperson Ioannis Artopoios said.
