Repatriation flights head for Greece as wildfires force tourists to flee

RHODES, Greece – Wildfires burned across Greece on Monday, forcing people to be evacuated from a beach on the island of Corfu, while tourists crowded an airport on Rhodes after thousands fled hotels and resorts at the weekend.

Fires burning since last Wednesday on Rhodes forced the evacuation of 19,000 people at the weekend as an inferno reached coastal resorts on the island’s south-eastern coast.

Rhodes and Corfu are among Greece’s top destinations for tourists mainly from Britain and Germany.

“We are in the seventh day of the fire and it hasn’t been controlled,” Rhodes Deputy Mayor Konstantinos Taraslias told state broadcaster ERT.

Tourists spent the night on the airport floor, waiting for repatriation flights.

“It was quite a bit of a struggle on the beach with the smoke,” said Mr John Hope, a tourist from Manchester, England.

Tour operators Jet2, TUI and Corendon cancelled flights leaving for Rhodes.

Britain’s easyJet said on Sunday that it was operating two repatriation flights on Monday from Rhodes to London’s Gatwick Airport, in addition to the nine flights already operating between the island and Gatwick.

The airline said it will add another repatriation flight on Tuesday.

Ryanair said on Sunday that its flights to and from Rhodes were operating as normal. Chief financial officer Neil Sorahan said the airline was monitoring the situation on Monday.

“We have a lot of customers there who want to get home. We’re not going to leave them behind, so we’ll travel back in and out,” he added.

“It’s not necessary at this period in time (to put on more flights), we’re letting people book onto earlier flights.”

Evacuations by sea were under way on Corfu, where about 59 people were evacuated from a beach on Sunday.

Footage from the island showed the skyline ablaze from fires in a mountain region.

On Rhodes, some holidaymakers said they walked for miles in scorching heat to reach safety. The fires left blackened trees and dead animals lying on the road near burnt-out cars.