A relaxing week of sea and sand took a dramatic turn on Sunday evening for a couple from Ried im Innkreis (Upper Austria) and their grandson (6). They had to flee their hotel before a huge forest fire.
Saturday actually started quite unspectacular. “We got up and saw a lot of smoke. But it didn’t look that dramatic,” says Sandra Pfeil-Ehrengruber, who has been enjoying life with her husband Kurt and grandson Paula (6) on the holiday island of Rhodes in Greece for a week now.
Waiting anxiously
But the situation grew more dramatic from hour to hour. “We don’t know if we will be evacuated after all,” said the woman from the Innviertel around 5:30 p.m. Three hours later, the three had to leave the hotel as quickly as possible.
“The time has come, we are being evacuated. We have to go to a nearby town. The fire is so close,” Sandra Pfeil-Ehrengruber describes the dramatic scenes.
Soldiers took tourists
The Greek army later picked up the hotel guests in trucks and took the three people from the Innviertel to a nearby beach. However, many tourists fled on foot to a nearby beach. Some even dragged their luggage with them. However, they had to leave it on the beach. The tourists and also the people from the Innviertel were then rescued by boats around 1 a.m. and taken to safety.
2000 people saved
According to the Coast Guard, more than 2,000 people have been picked up by ships from the beaches of Kiotari and Lardos (where the Innviertlers were) in the east of the Mediterranean island and taken to another, safer beach on the island. This evacuation operation involved more than 30 private vessels, led by three Coast Guard vessels.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
