THOMAS Cook has cancelled all holidays to areas of Rhodes most affected by the wildfire until July 31.
The travel agency announced it had been in touch will all customers due to travel to Kiotari and Lardos – the areas of the Greek island at most risk – to arrange “swift refunds”.
It has also offered full refunds to customers due to depart for other parts of the island on Sunday and Monday who wish to cancel.
Holiday firm Tui Group has also cancelled all flights and holidays to Rhodes up to and including July 25 because of the fires on the Greek island.
It said on Twitter: “The situation in the Southern part of #Rhodes remains volatile and challenging.
“Due to this and considering the impact on local communities being affected, TUI has decided to cancel all flights and booked holidays to Rhodes for departures up to and incl. Tue, 25 July.”
A second tweet said customers with arrivals on Wednesday July 26 could rebook or cancel free of charge by contacting their original point of booking for further details.
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 rapidly spread.
Families were evacuated from their hotels at night and left their belongings behind as the huge flames crawled closer, with some having to walk miles to find refuge or wade through water to reach rescue boats near the beach.
The wildfire had been confined to the island’s mountainous centre but, aided by winds, very high temperatures and dry conditions, it spread on Saturday towards the coast on the island’s central-eastern side.
The six-day blaze continued to rage on Sunday after the fire service warned more fires could break out with temperatures set to reach 45C.
Greek authorities said 19,000 people have been evacuated so far, with the Ministry of Climate Change and Civil Protection adding it was “the largest evacuation from a wildfire in the country”.
Police on Rhodes said 16,000 have been evacuated by land and 3,000 by sea from 12 villages and several hotels.
Holiday firm Jet2 has cancelled all flights and holidays which were due to depart to Rhodes today because of the fires on the Greek island.
The company said: “We have cancelled all flights and holidays that are due to depart to Rhodes today (five flights in total). We will be contacting affected customers to update them, and to let them know that they will be provided with a full refund and the opportunity to rebook.
“We will fly those five aircraft to Rhodes with no customers onboard, so that we can bring customers back to the UK on their scheduled flight.
“We are keeping the situation under constant review, and we will continue to make decisions in the best interests of our customers.”
Matthew Lodge, the UK’s ambassador to Greece, said: “Since the #wildfires situation deteriorated yesterday @ukingreece has been working with the Greek authorities, airlines and tour operators to support UK nationals on #Rhodes.
“A rapid deployment team from @FCDOGovUK is on its way.”
