A fire on the island of Rhodes requires the evacuation of 30,000 residents and tourists

Paradise is burning. legendary Greek island of Rhodesthe largest and most touristic island in the Dodecanese archipelago, facing fire that forced the evacuation of 30,000 people. This is the largest evacuation carried out in the country due to a forest fire. In less than 24 hours, around 19,000 tourists and residents of twelve towns were evacuated north of Rhodes, to safe places away from the fiery elements, but equally hot, as the island experiences its second wave of extreme heat in a week.

Evacuations continued in the early hours of Sunday morning in a steady trickle as the fire closed in on homes, hotels and recreational areas. At least 3,000 affected people left the dangerous area by sea due to the danger of entering the internal roads where the dense forest with huge amounts of biomass has become a blaze.

At midday this Sunday, an administrative office was set up at Rhodes Airport to try to restore the documentation that thousands of tourists lost in the sudden exodus in the last twenty-four hours. Tour operators have also asked several airlines to send empty charter flights for those visitors who wish to leave Rhodes. The prognosis is like that Hotels in threatened areas will remain closed until the government considers the fire under controlwhose three fronts remain unrestrained.

A spokesman for Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis explained that most of the evacuees were transferred to makeshift shelters in gyms, sports centers and schools. Many neighbors from the north also offered their private houses. The enclaves that were evacuated are Kiotari, Gennadi, Pylonas, Laerma, Lardos, Lindos, Kalathos Malona, ​​Asklipieio, Pefkos, Massari and Haraki. In the first of these, several houses appeared to have been destroyed or caught fire on Sunday morning. “We’ve been watching the fire on the ridge for days, but we didn’t want to believe it. He finally arrived here,” explains a neighbor of this settlement to Hellenic list. About fifty families have lived in this neighborhood since 1990, and in three hours the fire went from one end to the other, he adds.

Two thousand tourists on the beaches

The evacuation went “without incident,” according to firefighters, and early Sunday reached its climax 2,000 tourists cornered on two beaches on Rhodes due to the danger of fire they were pulled out on several ships of the Greek army and coast guard, as well as on thirty private sailboats that joined the rescue operation. However, some situations were dramatic, as there were families who had to flee on foot amid smoke and ash blown by the wind and under severe temperatures that never dropped below 40 degrees.

Many visitors were forced to leave their belongings in hotels. According to official sources, nine people had to be treated for smoke inhalation, and two tourists were admitted to hospitals: a young pregnant woman who is under medical supervision as a precaution and another woman who suffered a fracture when leaving the hotel.

Emergency services assure that the situation on the island is very complex. Extreme dryness was added to the density of the forest after a week of heat waves, high temperatures and increasingly strong winds. In fact, Greece barely experienced a day of respite after the choking phenomenon that developed since last Tuesday due to the African anticyclone. The mercury rose again on Saturday, and it is expected to reach 48 degrees Celsius in some parts of the country this Monday.