A British mother spoke of feeling helpless as flames tore through the Greek island of Rhodes, leaving her family “stranded.”
Rhodes is a famous summer holiday destination for British tourists in Greece and is well-known for its sand beaches, historic temples, and nightlife.
However, authorities claim that roughly one in ten tourists have been touched by the flames, which have prompted thousands of residents to leave from seaside settlements.
Footage from Kiotari and Lardo resorts has shown sightseers against a murky orange sky dragging suitcases or fleeing hotels without their luggage at all.
Others have described waking up today to ash falling on them from above as wildfires raged for the sixth night.
Thousands of miles away, Brits like Debbie Antoine are watching the unfolding scenes and are terrified of what will happen to their families vacationing there.
Her daughter, Kelly Nicholls, who is staying at a five-star hotel along the upscale Kiotari beach strip, has lost ‘everything’.
‘My daughter Kell, her husband and two young children along with another family of four had to run for their lives from the Princess Andriana Resort & Spa,’ Debbie said, according to The Mirror.
‘They have walked for miles to escape and no one except local people have given them drinks,’ she said, adding that they have been sleeping on sun beds.
‘The hotel gave them towels and nothing else, no food or drink,’ Debbie added.
‘They are literally stranded and have lost everything as they ran in their swimwear.’
Eileen Mawton and her daughter Hannah Gormley and eight-year-old granddaughter Annabelle, also staying at the Princess Andriana Resort & Spa, said they had to run on foot in 40°C heat.
Friend Glynis Wall told The Mirror: ‘They said it was like images of a warzone.
‘Everyone around them was panicking. There were children and babies crying and mothers trying to protect them from the smoke.’
While Corinne Watson, 42, who is holidaying with her husband and two sons, said power outages at their hotel ’caused chaos’ but staff are ‘working exceptionally hard’.
‘For others, both tourists and locals, it is awful and terrifying,’ she told the PA news agency.
More than 19,000 people have been vacated so far in what police told local news outlet Ellada 24 is the largest fire evacuation operation ever carried out in the country.
Preliminary police data suggests 16,000 people have been evacuated over land and 3,000 by sea.
The wildfire has been burning since last week but was confined mainly to mountainous regions until winds and scorching temperatures pushed it eastside.
Orders to leave homes and hotels in Asklepiio and Kiotari and move to Gennadi were issued at 1:42pm yesterday, the Greek news agency ANA-MPA reported.
Holidaymaker David Woodhouse tweeted footage of him walking in a bathing suit alongside countless others from the TUI Plimmiri Hotel shortly after the alert.
Greece’s Ministry for Climate Crisis and Civil Protection said the evacuation ‘took place without problem’ and ‘care has been taken for the accommodation of those who had to be removed’.
Nine people have been admitted to hospital with breathing problems, regional health officials said.
The British Embassy in Athens said it is ‘closely monitoring the wildfire in Rhodes’.
The Foreign Office’s travel advice for Greece adds: ‘If you are a British national affected by wildfires in Rhodes near Kiotari, Pefkoi, Lindos and the surrounding area, please follow the guidance from the emergency services.
‘If you are planning to travel to Rhodes, please check with your travel operator or hotel prior to travel that the area you plan to visit is not impacted by the current wildfires.’
It comes as at least 46 forest fires were ignited throughout Greece in the last 24 hours, the country’s fire brigade tweeted at about 6:20pm local time.
Greece’s fire service spokesman, Ioannis Artophios, told reporters yesterday evening: ‘An extreme risk of fire is predicted in Attica, Evia, Boeotia, Phocis, Fthiotida, Magnesia, Larissa, Argolis, Corinthia, Messinia, in areas of Achaia and Ilia, and in the islands of the Rhodes Regional Unit, while the risk remains very high in the rest of the country.
‘The new heat wave creates dangerous conditions for the occurrence and spread of fires.
‘In the extreme situation we are experiencing, the attention of all of us is required.’
The tinder-dry temperatures are set to continue in Rhodes today, with Greece’s national weather service predicting 32°C in the morning before rising to 40°C by midday.
Even in the evening, the mercury will only lower by eight degrees, according to the Hellenic National Meteorological Service.
Cleon, named by Greek weather officials after the Athenian general and otherwise known as Cerebrus, has engulfed Greece, igniting wildfires last week near Athens.
Dan Jones, a director of sports for a school football team in Torbay, England, tweeted that the Rhodes wildfires have been the ‘scariest moment in my entire life’.
He said he and his three children climbed on a fishing trawler to get to safety.
‘I don’t know how they’ll process this when the dust settles, but what brave boys,’ he said. ‘Family is everything.’