The Greek government has confirmed that so far “19,000 people have been evacuated” which is the largest ever evacuation in history as wildfires are tearing through the island of Rhodes, which is now on its sixth day.
The Deputy Mayor of Rhodes is asking for citizens to take people in an appeal for help from the public as “problems have multiplied.”
The Deputy Mayor said speaking to media outlets on Sunday, “Unfortunately, the essentials are not enough, there is only water and some rudimentary food.
“People sit on steps and on school desks. They open cardboard boxes and sleep there.”
He added, “We appeal to our fellow citizens to take these people to their homes to spend the night.”
Still no contact from Easyjet, we have been given a €4.50 voucher. Some passengers were put onto a plane and sat there in 40C for 30 minutes only to be told the diverted flight to Athens was cancelled… the most appalling conditions from @easyJet @TimesRadio #rhodes pic.twitter.com/R09p6yov9O
— ben Wright (@benWrig49201900) July 23, 2023
Stranded tourists have been sleeping on sunbeds as they are trying to work out how to escaped the wildfires and the toxic air.
Ian Murison, from London, spoke to Sky News from his rescue boat after fleeing the Kiotari area of Rhodes.
He said, “I can only describe it as almost a movie experience where everyone’s looking into the sky as it got a very strange orange colour, and everybody was just looking around going, ‘what’s going on?’.”
He described the situation as being “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.
“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.”
Fire on Rhodes: Hotels on fire, evacuation of tourists only by boats
▪️The port authority of the Greek island of Rhodes continues to evacuate residents and tourists by sea from the beaches in Lardos and Kiotari, the eastern side of the island has been cut off by a large forest… pic.twitter.com/TJ3vTnJgn1
— Spriter Team (@SpriterTeam) July 23, 2023
Zina, from Northampton, is in Rhodes on holiday with her partner and her two young children also told the broadcaster, “Being in the heart of Gennadi where people were evacuated to was terrifying- like something out of a movie and nothing I have ever experienced in my life.
Those damned climate protestors walking slowly, causing havoc and delays in Rhodes this afternoon.
Oh, wait- sorry it’s the climate causing the havoc.
Mass holiday evacuations have now begun. Perhaps we should build more wind farms or something. pic.twitter.com/51N9RTfTY6
— Brendan May (@bmay) July 22, 2023
“We had no electricity, you couldn’t use your card to make payments, all restaurants were closed and shops could only accept cash. Truly terrifying.”
At 2am on Sunday morning they made the decision to head north, she added, “Driving to the north was incredibly scary every corner you turned you felt like you were driving straight towards the fire- although I imagine it was still a long way away.”
Amy Leyden, another British tourist described the moment the Greek police arrived at her hotel and told them they need to leave “or you’re not going to make it.”
She told Sky News, “It was just terrifying.
“We’ve got our 11-year-old daughter with us and we were walking down the road at two o’clock in the morning and the fire was catching up with us.
“I was just thinking I don’t know how I’m gonna do this because I didn’t think we were gonna make it.”
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