Women embrace as holidaymakers fleeing Greek wildfires arrive at Gatwick Airport
By Oliver Slow & Rachel Russell
BBC News
Hundreds of holidaymakers are arriving back in the UK on repatriation flights from Rhodes as wildfires continue to grip the Greek island.
Up to 10,000 Britons are believed to be staying on the island, with flights home continuing throughout the week.
EasyJet and Tui have cancelled outbound package holidays to Rhodes until Saturday and Friday respectively.
Tourists have had to flee hotels and sleep outside as fires spread towards resorts on the eastern coast.
The fires have destroyed locals’ homes and businesses in some areas.
Greece has seen temperatures exceeding 40C (104F) in recent weeks, with fires burning for nearly a week in some areas.
At least 19,000 people have been evacuated so far from Rhodes.
Elsewhere, around 2,500 people were evacuated from Corfu, some 1,027km (670 miles) miles away, a fire department spokesman told AFP news agency.
There have been reports some fires may have been started by arsonists, but the extreme temperatures, dry conditions and strong winds across Greece have aided their spread.
In Rhodes, flare-ups overnight have caused the flames to spread to new areas, while in Crete authorities have told residents of an extreme risk of fire.
Azadeh Moshiri says some people have been sleeping at the airport.
Fire service spokesperson Lt Col Yannis Artopios told the BBC that potentially thousands of people were evacuated from Platanistos, on Evia, overnight.
Evia and Corfu – both of which have issued evacuation orders – have experienced strong winds throughout the day, he said, adding “it is not totally under control”.
“We continue to hunt fires everyday,” he said.
Reporting from Rhodes, BBC correspondent Jenny Hill said that firefighting aircraft have once again taken to the skies on Tuesday morning, dumping water onto the blazing ground below.
Until now, that has been in vain. It does not help that winds are very strong, fanning the flames, while temperatures are also expected to remain high into the middle of this week.
There are also parts of the island where it feels like nothing is wrong – there are tourists happily playing in the sea, while not too far away the firefighters are tackling the blazes.
There are also concerns about the island’s crucial tourism industry.
Sarah George, a bar owner in Lindos, in the southeast of Rhodes, said there was uncertainty about what will happen over the next few weeks, but that things are “pretty worrying for business owners here in Lindos”.
She added that the situation is worrying for everyone – “locals and tourists alike” – but that people are “doing absolutely everything they can” to tackle the fires.
Image source, Reuters
Authorities and volunteers tackle wildfires on Rhodes
Tour operators and airlines have been sending repatriation flights to bring people back to the UK over the last couple of days as holidaymakers have been left with no choice but to evacuate their accommodation and sleep in schools, airports and sports centres.
Tourists have been arriving back into UK airports including Gatwick, Heathrow, Stansted, Birmingham and Bristol.
Tui operated three repatriation flights on Sunday, while a fourth brought people to the UK from Rhodes on Monday, and another was scheduled for Tuesday morning.
EasyJet said it had operated two flights totalling 421 seats on Monday and a third would take place on Tuesday, along with nine scheduled flights to the Greek island.
Jet2 added four repatriation flights had been scheduled for Monday night after one landed at Leeds Bradford Airport on Sunday evening.
Coach company National Express also said it is offering free travel to holidaymakers who are repatriated from Greece to a different UK airport than the one they flew out from.
A Cardiff family describe evacuating their hotel while on holiday in Rhodes.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak advised people to keep in touch with tour operators or hotels if they were planning to travel to areas affected by wildfires.
The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “British nationals in Rhodes should contact their travel operator in the first instance for any queries regarding the rescheduling of flights and continue to check our updated gov.uk travel advice for information.”
The Foreign Office has not advised against going to Rhodes, but added that it had sent six Foreign Office staff members and four British Red Cross responders to Rhodes International Airport to work with Greek authorities and travel operators.
The Earl of Courtown, the deputy chief whip in the House of Lords, said there are “no plans to repatriate UK holidaymakers from Rhodes” as the airport there is “operating normally”.
In a private notice question raised in the House of Lords – the equivalent of a House of Commons urgent question – he added that the government is “actively monitoring the fires in Rhodes” and that its travel advice is constantly under review.
He also said the wildfire situation in Rhodes is “stabilising” and that the “vast majority of the island is not affected by these fires”.
Emma Brennan, from the Association of British Travel Agents – the travel association trade body, urged anyone planning to travel to Rhodes in the coming days to contact their travel provider to check if flights are still happening.
“Some airlines are still operating flights, so it might be that if you’re booked on one of those flights your holidays may be able to still go ahead,” she told BBC Breakfast.
She added that Rhodes is a large island, and that there are some parts of it that are “still fully functioning and people are still able to travel and enjoy a holiday there”.
Ms Brennan also urged anyone still in an evacuation centre to get in touch with their travel provider.
Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove said he is still planning on going holiday to Greece next week. He told Sky News he was going to Evia, one of the islands that has issued an evacuation order.
He told BBC Breakfast that Greece is “safe” and a “wonderful place for those fortunate enough to go abroad to spend some time this summer”.
He also said holidaymakers should check the latest UK Foreign Office travel advice before their trips.
Meanwhile, an EasyJet pilot flying British tourists to Rhodes urged passengers to get off the plane before take-off, insisting it was a “terrible idea” to visit the island.
“I don’t know in what capacity you are travelling, but if you are travelling for leisure, my sincere recommendation is that it’s a bad idea,” the pilot said.
Eight passengers took the pilot up on the offer, including one young boy in tears.
Daniel and Luna Rolfe’s honeymoon over the weekend was cut short when they were taken straight from the airport to an evacuation centre after finding out their accommodation in the Lindos area of Rhodes had been evacuated because of thick smoke.
Mr Rolfe, 25, told BBC News: “It was packed. I couldn’t tell you how many people were there. We walked past quite a few rooms and they were all packed.”
The Glaswegian couple eventually managed to find an Airbnb for the night on Sunday, but had to leave it on Monday as it was fully booked.
Officials estimate 19,000 have been evacuated by land and sea with more people due to be evacuated from three villages – Pefki, Lindos, Kalathos
