Many displaced refugees no longer have an identity card: the situation at Rhodes airport is chaotic

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Parts of the Greek island of Rhodes are currently under a state of emergency. The reason: fierce forest fires are raging. Thousands of people flee the flames. According to the Greek government, 19,000 people have been brought to safety – many of them in the north of the island. Many people flock to the airport where conditions are chaotic. Photos show people sleeping on the floor.

A big problem on the ground: many tourists who had to flee no longer have their identity papers because they did not have time to take their belongings with them. To this end, the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs has set up a hotspot at the airport on the island of Rhodes, where tourists can obtain an exit permit in an unbureaucratic manner.

Swiss still flies, Tui no longer

A look at the Flightradar24 portal shows that there have not yet been any major flight irregularities on Rhodes. Most scheduled flights take place. The airline Swiss also flies to the holiday island of Rhodes on Sunday despite major forest fires. A Swiss media spokeswoman told the Keystone-SDA news agency that a flight taking off from Geneva took place as planned. The return flight on Sunday evening from 8.45 p.m. will also be operated according to plan, it was said. In addition, there were no flights from Zurich to Rhodes on Sunday, which are operated by the airline Edelweiss.

In the meantime, the tour group Tui no longer brings tourists to the holiday island due to the fierce forest fires on Rhodes. Flight connections remained in place to fly guests back to Germany, Aage Dünhaupt, head of communications at Tui Germany, said the DPA.

Similar rules apply to other countries. In addition, many travelers were able to cancel their flight. “We offer all guests who have booked to Rhodes up to and including Friday, the option of rebooking to another holiday destination or canceling free of charge.” (bab/SDA)

Source: Blick