Some 19,000 people, including 6,000 tourists, have been evacuated on the Greek island of Rhodes to escape a large forest fire, which was still out of control this Sunday due to high temperatures and strong winds. This is the largest evacuation of its kind in the history of Greece. Since the fire broke out six days ago, a total of 30,000 people have been evacuated from the site.
Since yesterday, Saturday, some 3,000 tourists were transferred to safe locations by sea, while the rest, 16,000 people, including another 3,000 tourists, did so by land in an extensive operation that lasted all weekend, the spokesman for the Fire Department, Yannis Artopiós, told private television SKAI.
So far there is no record of injuries, although nine people had to be transferred to health centers with mild respiratory problems due to smoke. Given the large number of evacuees, the authorities speak of "the largest evacuation operation ever carried out in Greece."
“It literally seemed like the end of the world,” a British tourist, Ian Murson, told Sky News from a lifeboat as other beachgoers crowded onto evacuation buses, amid scenes of confusion.
Rhodes is the third most populated island in Greece with 125,000 people, to which can be added up to 150,000 visitors in the high summer season. Most of the tourists come from the UK, Germany and France.
The fire has forced the evacuation of eleven towns in the center and east coast of the island, while the flames damaged at least three hotels in the coastal town of Kiotari and burned several houses in the town of Laerma, famous for its acropolis suspended on a hill.
Some 270 firefighters with 49 vehicles, five helicopters and ten tanker planes were fighting the flames this Sunday for the sixth consecutive day, amid high temperatures and strong winds. Thousands of tourists had to spend the night in schools, sports halls or ferries, some of them in bathing suits and with their clothes on.
In numerous videos published on social networks, lines of several kilometers of tourists can be seen who, suitcase in hand, walk to nearby beaches to be evacuated. Some have denounced a lack of organization and information on the part of the authorities and stress that they had to walk several kilometers under a strong sun with small children and their belongings to reach the points set for the evacuation.
“We were walking down the road at two in the morning while the fire was chasing us,” said a British tourist, Amy Leyden, who was taken between two hotels with her 11-year-old daughter before being put up at a school.
The tour operators have arranged that all their charter flights land empty on the island to pick up those tourists who want to leave Rhodes. Since Saturday, most flights to leave the island have been full, Greek media reported. And at least three tour operators (Jet2, TUI and Correndon) announced yesterday the cancellation of holiday trips to Rhodes.
Firefighters are battling the flames on three separate fronts, on the west coast and central Rhodes, while the fire has already ripped through thousands of hectares of virgin forest.
“The environment on the island has really been destroyed. The images I see are unprecedented," Efthímios Lekkas, a professor specializing in Natural Catastrophes, told ERT public television.
The catastrophe is also a severe blow to the economy of Rhodes, whose main engine is the tourism sector.
Greece is experiencing an extreme heat wave, with temperatures topping 44 degrees in central Greece on Saturday, while yesterday they hit 45 degrees in some spots.
