On the Greek holiday island of Rhodes, thousands of holidaymakers and residents have been brought to safety from the flames of a forest fire. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ office announced on Sunday morning that it was the largest evacuation operation ever carried out in Greece. While the first return flights are already being organized for holidaymakers, tour operators want to contact holidaymakers who want to go to the island in the coming days to find out whether the trip can go ahead at all.
As for affected travelers from Austria, Austria’s Foreign Ministry said on Sunday afternoon that, according to current knowledge, fewer than 15 people remain in regions with acute fire risk and are awaiting evacuation.
The Austrian embassy in Athens is in contact with those affected
“The Austrian embassy in Athens and the honorary consulate in Rhodes are in contact with about 70 affected Austrians who have already been evacuated from the acute fire areas by the Greek emergency teams,” the ministry said.
The situation in Rhodes and in Greece as a whole is being monitored with particular attention and those affected can contact the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Embassy in Athens at any time.
Travel group TUI will cancel all flights to Rhodes by Tuesday at the latest
The travel group TUI – it currently has about 39,000 guests on Rhodes – announced that all flights to the island have been canceled until Tuesday. However, the flight connections remained to fly guests back. About 7,800 of the 39,000 guests were affected by the fire and brought to safety. “Customers currently in Rhodes will return on their scheduled flight home,” it said in a statement. British airline Jet2 canceled all flights to the island for Sunday.
The Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs has set up a hotspot at the island’s airport, where tourists can obtain an exit permit in an unbureaucratic way if they no longer have identity papers due to the circumstances. This was reported by the Greek state broadcaster ERT on Sunday.
Many holidaymakers had to leave their belongings behind
The people would have had to flee from the fire and may not have had time to take their belongings with them. Many affected not only had to leave their suitcases behind, but are now also without shelter because the hotels and guesthouses are fully booked in high season.
Family from Upper Austria rescued by the army
A Greek government official said a total of about 19,000 people have been evacuated from their homes and hotels. Many of them spent Sunday night in emergency shelters such as schools and sports halls. Others had to sleep outside. A spokesman for the fire service told Skai that the evacuees had been provided with food, water and medical care. The army also saved a family from Upper Austria from the fire.
Big alert
In addition to Rhodes, the highest alert level five also applied to Central Greece, the west and northeast of the Peloponnese peninsula and the vicinity of Athens and the island of Euboea. A severe heat wave with temperatures of more than 40 degrees has kept the country under control for days. Before that, too, it had been hot and dry for a long time.
Source: Krone
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