Hundreds of tourists and locals stranded in seaside villages on Rhodes threatened by five-day-old wildfires were evacuated on Saturday by Greek coast guard ships, moving them to safer parts of the island.
According to a Coast Guard statement, the Greek Navy warship was en route to join five Greek Coast Guard ships and two military boats that were being assisted by 30 private vessels in the area.
About 2,000 people have been evacuated by sea from southeastern Rhodes, said Coast Guard spokesman Nikos Alexio. “Most have been rescued but the operation continues,” he told Greek television, adding that coast guard boats were patrolling the area along with a helicopter.
Thousands of people in Rhodes were evacuated by land to other parts of the island. About 7,500 people have been evacuated, South Aegean regional governor George Hatzimarkos said.
Rhodes is one of Greece’s most popular summer holiday destinations, particularly for Britons, who love it for its long, sandy beaches and vibrant nightlife.
Television footage showed tourists dragging suitcases along the road and residents helping to transfer them to coastal areas in pickup trucks. Other coverage showed people standing on the beach with their suitcases waiting for rescue boats.
Social media Postings Many visitors showed up fleeing their hotels with no possessions. Some were still on their own Bathing suits.
Some tourists were taken to the island’s airport and others to schools and stadiums, Rhodes’ deputy mayor Konstantinos Taraslias told Greek television. Some were temporarily accommodated in other hotels.
British playwright and screenwriter Paul Kalburgi, who was staying at the Lindos Imperial with her husband and two sons, said in a message on Twitter that she walked a little more than four miles along the coast to the Atlantica Hotel with hundreds of others.
He and his family later left Atlantica in a second evacuation, with locals picking them up a short way, but then having to walk more than a mile to another hotel, he said in a text message that indicated a somewhat disorganized rescue effort.
“The hotel told us to board buses to other hotels – not sure why – we all went to the street as instructed but the buses never came,” he said. “Then the Red Cross told us to go in the car because there were children.”
Earlier Mr. Kalburgi posted a desperate note Twitter He and his family, pressing wet towels to their faces, abandoned Lindos Imperial and tried to avoid the advancing flames.
At least three hotels were damaged by the fire, Greek media reported.
The fire in Rhodes was one of hundreds that have broken out across Greece this week, fueled by dry conditions as a second heat wave grips the country, with temperatures set to reach 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) in central Greece on Sunday.
Two large fires burning for two days west of Athens and on the southern Peloponnese peninsula have destroyed several homes and ravaged thousands of hectares of forest, Greece’s fire service spokesman Ioannis Artopios said on Saturday.
But the fire in Rhodes was taxing firefighters due to extreme heat, dry conditions and strong winds. “This is the most difficult fire we are dealing with,” Mr Artopios said, adding that the service had ordered the evacuation of four villages in the south-east of the island earlier on Saturday.
As night falls, ground forces will spend the night against blazes with aircraft on three active fronts to resume the effort at first light on Sunday, he said.
