Another scary story of British tourists escaping from a fire on the island of Rhodes, the British Daily Star told. “When the fire reached the hotel, they turned on the sirens and told everyone to run away,” said the tourists who had to survive the “battle for a seat on the bus.”
For example, two families of British tourists with young children in their arms told the publication that when the fires began to approach their hotel, they decided to flee on foot along with many other families, despite being advised to stay put. As a result, they marched more than five kilometers in 42-degree heat, eventually evacuating together with residents to escape the inferno.
“We called the travel company and were told not to worry and to stay where we were. Within an hour, the fire reached the territory of the hotel. They just turned on the sirens and told everyone to run. And we ran with small children, luggage and without understanding where we were going. At first, we walked in 42-degree heat with no direction where to go. Children were screaming, they were very scared, and adults were crying everywhere. Residents stopped and picked us up to save us from the fire just a few meters from us,” said the frightened tourist.
The fire eventually blocked the tourists’ road and they were told to go to the beach along with thousands of other tourists, she said. “Thick black smoke and ash raining down on us. The children were completely shocked. Not to mention the fact that there was no electricity, so there was no light – it was pitch black except for the glow from the flames. We were then told to walk another three miles uphill at 11 pm to another area as the fire had come too close to the beach. Then we fought with other people to get on the buses and try to get our children to a safe place,” said the tourist. At the same time, at the moment of Monday, they did not manage to fly out of Rhodes, because it is impossible to reach the airport due to fires.
At the moment, the largest evacuation due to forest fires in the history of Greece is being carried out: 19,000 vacationers were evacuated from the beaches of the popular island of Rhodes. A critical situation unfolded in the southeast of the resort island: thousands of beach tourists were trapped and had to flee from hotels and escape from the fire by sea. Hundreds of firefighters and rescue workers are battling the blaze, but the heat brought by an African anticyclone and blanketing southern Europe is working against the army and volunteers in tandem with the wind.
At the same time, tourists have to be transported even through other countries – yes, the first 95 tourists, transported by sea ferry, arrived in Turkish Marmaris. There are two more ferries, also ready to leave to take tourists, and tour operators and local authorities are thinking about logistics.
Tourists who escaped from the “fiery hell” tell terrible stories – some had to evacuate in an unknown direction on foot, others have already said goodbye to their luggage, assuming that it disappeared or even burned down with the hotel – but they are glad that they remained alive.