Brits face 'war zone' as 19,000 people evacuated in Rhodes wildfires as tourists sleep on floors & face travel chaos | The Sun
BRITISH families are experiencing holidays from hell in the "war-zone" of Rhodes as they are forced to flee burning hotels, wade through water and sleep on gym floors.
Up to 19,000 locals and tourists are on the move in the biggest evacuation effort Greece has ever seen due to the wildfires spinning out of control on the popular island.
Over 16,000 people were evacuated by land and 3,000 by sea from 12 villages and several hotels – many of which were Brits.
Extraordinary scenes show columns of people carrying their luggage and children on dirt roads as they try to find safety.
Many found temporary refuge on the beach as they waited in darkness overnight to be transported to safety by boats.
Other fleeing Brits have spent the night in makeshift camps across the island – with young kids forced to sleep on mattresses in classrooms and gyms.
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My daughter, 5, asked if we were going to die in escape from Rhodes fires
My family with four kids was left running for our lives from Rhodes fires
British Embassy officials in Athens urged Brits to leave the area on Saturday evening – as holidays and flights to Rhodes continue to be cancelled.
The Foreign Office has scrambled an evacuation team to help Brit holidaymakers flee raging wildfires in Rhodes.
The British ambassador to Greece, Mathew Lodge, said the Foreign Office had sent a "rapid deployment team" to help UK tourists who were among thousands forced to run for their lives.
Over 250 firefighters, backed by aircraft water-bombers and reinforcements from Slovakia, battled three fronts on Sunday in the biggest blaze Greece has ever seen.
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The flames have burned for nearly a week on the island after the country was battered by an extended spell of extreme heat that has made it challenging to contain the blaze.
A British dad-of-four has described his family's hell as they fled the Rhodes inferno in the dead of night.
PE Teacher Daniel Jones said he had to wade into the ocean neck deep to get his young family onto a pleasure boat to escape the flames that chased them.
"It has been a nightmare, our holiday has been ruined, our kids traumatised," he told The Sun.
"There was still a lot of confusion, it was madness. There were no reps or anyone to tell us what was happening.
"There was a moment where you could clearly see the flames moving closer but there were no boats to escape, I felt completely powerless to protect my family."
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On Saturday, Joanna Hughes, her husband, Jon, and five-year-old daughter, Emilia, left their belongings and fled their hotel due to wildfires.
They joined thousands of other tourists as they walked along the rocky beach during extreme heat in search of safety.
The trio, from Durham, walked for four miles to escape the flames and thick black smoke. They reached a hotel where the Army and police were transporting people away from the area.
"There were babies wrapped in towels, it was horrific.
"We were up so high and we had no where to go, we had to keep going or we would be engulfed with the smoke. You could see the flames in the mountains.
"We were just walking and walking away from the flames that were coming down. We just didn't have a clue where we were going. We were following one road and there was no plan," Joanna recalled.
"We were trying to keep ourselves together but Emilia could see that it wasn't right. She could sense it. She did say a couple of times 'Are we going to die?'. That is something I won't forget for a long time.
"I've not stopped crying since we got home."
British holiday-goer James Beale was on his way to his hotel with his partner yesterday when their minibus was stopped and held for almost six hours.
"The whole skyline became covered in smoke, fire engines and police blasted past and suddenly we couldn't see anything," he told The Sun.
"The driver didn't speak English and we had no idea what was happening."
They never made it to their hotel and instead have been sleeping on a sheet on the floor of a hotel as they wait for a flight out of the chaos.
"We're not in a bad place like other people, but no one knows anything and Tui is just telling us to sit and wait," he added.
Another British holiday-goer Mark and his pregnant wife who landed last night accused Tui of "chucking us into a warzone".
On route to their hotel, they were diverted to a basketball stadium by police.
"What he saw was a building packed with people sleeping on the floor and the sounds of children screaming," he told Sky News.
"I was told I was not allowed in as [it was] too full but my pregnant wife was."
Instead, Mark had to sit in a car park for hours until he was rescued by a Greek woman who let them have her bed.
"She also brought another family with four young children."
Tui – who have 40,000 tourists in Rhodes, 7,800 of which are impacted by the fires – have cancelled all their flights and holidays to the island up to and including Tuesday July 25.
Jet2 has now cancelled all flights and holidays that were due to depart to Rhodes today.
The statement added: "We will fly those five empty aircraft to Rhodes with no customers onboard, so that we can bring customers back to the UK on their scheduled flight."
Mum-of-three Helen Tonks, of Manchester, flew into Rhodes on Saturday night with her three daughters and husband ahead of a two-week sunshine break.
She told The Sun: “There was absolutely no communication whatsoever. We got out here and were told our hotel was among those evacuated.
"They put us on a coach and brought us to a school in Rhodes old town. There are hundreds of us here. We’ve been put up in makeshift dorms in classrooms.
"Dozens are sleeping on mattresses on the basketball court in the gymnasium.”
It comes as Greece continues to face high temperatures – with forecasts of up to 45C going into next week.
The country also experienced an "insidious and dangerous" heat blast earlier this month as temperatures soaring to 40C.
Weather experts have declared 2023 an El Niño year – a natural phenomenon that occurs cyclically and causes fluctuations in the global climate.
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The UN’s World Meteorological Organization said it will raise temperatures around the world, and the effect is likely to continue for the rest of the year.
And despite the heat this summer, Europe's record temperature of 48.8C – recorded in 2021 in Sardinia, Sicily – has not been reached and is currently not forecast to be broken.
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