Rhodes wildfires 2023: Brits on Greek island told ‘run to the sea’ | UK News

British families have told of their horror as they fled their hotels in Rhodes as wildfires raged on.

Around 10,000 holidaymakers were said to be stuck on the Greek island including those from the UK.

The first repatriation flights are set to land back in the UK this morning as some sea evacuations have begun from a beach in Corfu to transport individuals fleeing the flames.

Read the latest on our Greece wildfires live blog.

Mum-of-two Jodie, 32, and husband Matt, 35, had flown out from Manchester but were forced to quickly run for their lives from their hotel in Kiotari, cradling their children before jumping on a boat and abandoning their suitcases on the beach.

They had only arrived at around 1am on Saturday at the Princess Andriana Resort and Spa but within a few hours, experienced a sudden power cut before ‘air raid sirens’ sounded and they were told to ‘run to the sea’.

Jodie, from Lancashire said: ‘We ran to the beach, dragging our cases and the kids. The smoke was thick and black and the heat was immense. We left the cases after a few steps and the baby’s pram.

‘Out of the smoke a boat then turned up. I had to push my daughter through the bars on this boat and then my son. We just wanted our babies to get to safety.

‘They let me on but were shouting it was for women and children only at first. Waiting for Matt nearly tipped me over the edge. We couldn’t breathe and we had towels over our mouths.

‘My daughter was screaming ‘I don’t want to die’.’

Amid scenes of chaos and devastation on the beach, the boat departed and sailed through the thick clouds of smoke before arriving at Lardos Beach.

‘The heat was an unbearable 43C.

Moving on foot, the family then managed to catch a bus to nearby Lindos before a taxi was able to take them to Faliraki and then on to Rhodos.

‘Luckily, they had kept their passports with them when they abandoned their suitcases.

‘We thought we were safe but then the sirens started again. The fire was literally coming over the hill towards us like some f***ing sea creature. I’ve not seen anything like it. We had to run,’ Jodie added.

‘We finally got a taxi to the airport and the driver tried desperately to find us a hotel for a few hours, to charge our phones and get the kids some sleep.

‘We wanted out, and we managed to switch our flight and we landed in Manchester at 7am this morning (Sunday, July 23).

‘People are traumatised. A woman was pushing her mum in a wheelchair and they’d lost her dad’s ashes which they’d taken to Rhodes to scatter.

‘Another girl had family unable to get on the boats and phones weren’t charged so no idea if they were safe.

‘The people of Rhodes are the heroes here.

‘The boat guys, the guy handing out towels on the beach to protect my babies from the smoke, the free cold drinks when we got off the boat, the bus that stopped in Lardos, the taxi driver in Rhodos, Chris – our amazing taxi driver from the previous night, his local knowledge and reassuring voice notes were a game changer.’

Debbie Antoine said her daughter who was staying in a five-star hotel had ‘lost everything’ in the fire.

She told the Mirror: ‘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.

‘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 said.

HL: Brits speak of their horror as thousands of families flee Greek wildfires

British tourist Kevin Evans was evacuated twice on Saturday with his wife and three young children – first from Kiotari to Gennadi, then as the fire approached the island’s capital in the northeast, he told the PA news agency.

‘There were lots of people in Gennadi sent from the hotels – many in just swimsuits having been told to leave everything in the hotel,’ he told PA.

‘As night fell, we could see the fire on the top of the hills in Kiotari. They said all the hotels were on fire.’

Rhodes travel agent Stelios Kotiadis told the Associated Press the evacuation was hasty.

‘There was panic. … The authorities were overwhelmed,’ he said.

But, he said, the abandoned hotels ‘are in much better condition than reported in social media. … They will be ready to reopen very soon if Civil Protection gives the go-ahead’.

Mr Kotiadis said he and other travel agents sent buses to the island’s southeast to pick up evacuated tourists.

They had to go the long way around because the road running down Rhodes’ eastern side was blocked in places.

‘There were 80 to 90 people cramming into 50-seater buses,’ he said.

British couple Laura and Marc Hall told of their ‘nightmare’ time on Rhodes as they celebrated their wedding anniversary on the island.

Mrs Hall told BBC Breakfast: ‘It’s been a nightmare, on Saturday night we were just having a drink and we knew that other places had been evacuated but we were just told to stand by.

‘There was ash falling in our drinks and we could just see a blaze in the distance and a load of smoke, we were told not to do anything and then all of a sudden we had alarms going off on our phone and the waiter was saying standby, shouting ‘mayday, mayday’.

‘So it was just a mad panic, we all started packing, we were just told to wait and we might have to evacuate, so we just stayed in our rooms and at 3am we get a call, we’ve got to go.’

Amy Leyden, a British tourist who was rescued from Rhodes, said her evacuation was a ‘terrifying’ experience, adding: ‘I didn’t think I was going to make it.’

Police rushed Ms Leyden, her partner and their two-year-old daughter from their hotel – which has now burned down – before they ran through ‘thick smoke’.

‘We just had to keep running and then the fire was getting closer and it was getting harder to breathe,’ she said.

A local man picked up the family in a truck and drove them to the beach, she explained, but the sight she was greeted by was ‘awful’.

‘The army was waiting but everyone was fighting to get onto the boats, there were children falling in the water.’

Foreign Office Minister Andrew Mitchell said around 10,000 Brits could be stuck on the island.

He told Sky News: ‘It’s difficult to be absolutely sure, the figure is between 7,000 and 10,000.’

Asked how many UK holidaymakers are on Corfu, the Foreign Office minister said: ‘We’re not sure how many are on Corfu, but the position on Corfu is very different.

‘The fires are not taking place in residential areas or holiday areas, and although some people were temporarily moved, they’ve now been sent back to their accommodation.’

Mr Mitchell also said it is ‘difficult to say’ whether the wildfires on the islands will get better or worse and said it ‘depends on which way the wind blows and how fiercely it blows’.

The minister also said tour operators ‘can and should be as close as possible to the people whose holidays they have organised’ as British holidaymakers have accused companies such as Jet2 and Tui of leaving them in their hotels without any guidance.

He continued: ‘I’m sure that the tour operators will be doing everything they can. They may have had a slow start, but I’m sure they’ll be doing everything they can to support the people whose holidays they have organised.’

Dan Jones, a sports teacher from Torquay, had to climb on to a fishing trawler with his sons on Saturday night, describing it as ‘the scariest moment’ in his life and adding: ‘What brave boys.’

Ian Wakefield told Times Radio he spent the night on a school playground in Faliraki after being moved from his hotel in Pefki.

Nursery worker Vicky Morris, 34, from Cheltenham, told The Sun her four-year-old daughter Cassie Bell asked: ‘Are we going to die, Mummy?’

An easyJet spokeswoman said it was doing ‘all it can’ to help customers in Rhodes and invited those due to travel to or from the island until Saturday to change the date for free.

Travel firm Tui has said holidaymakers have returned to the UK from Rhodes on ‘three dedicated flights’.

It said in a statement: ‘We’re now working hard to get everybody home safely, with our first passengers returning to the UK on three dedicated flights overnight and plans in place to get everyone affected back as soon as possible.

‘We appreciate how distressing and difficult it’s been for those who have been evacuated and ask that they continue to follow the advice of the local authorities and keep in touch with the Tui reps who are present in all evacuation centres. Our teams will be contacting customers with any updates as soon as they can.

‘We have cancelled all outbound flights to Rhodes up to and including Tuesday, and passengers due to travel on these flights will receive full refunds.

‘Passengers due to travel on Wednesday will be offered a fee-free amend to another holiday or the option to cancel for a full refund.

‘We are still operating flights to bring those customers currently on holiday elsewhere in Rhodes home as planned.

‘The safety and wellbeing of our customers and teams remains our top priority.’

Meanwhile, evacuations have been taking place on a third Greek island affected by wildfires, according to reports.

Some 77 firefighters and 25 water trucks are battling scattered outbreaks in Evia, east of Athens, said Greece’s state agency ANA-MPA, citing the fire department.

Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly tweeted to say his office is in ‘close contact with authorities in Greece’.

The six-day blaze continued to rage after the fire service warned more fires could break out with temperatures set to reach 45C.

Greek authorities said 19,000 people have been evacuated so far, with the Ministry of Climate Change and Civil Protection adding it was ‘the largest evacuation from a wildfire in the country’. Police on Rhodes said 16,000 have been evacuated by land and 3,000 by sea from 12 villages and several hotels.

MORE : Petrified tourists flee Rhodes and Corfu in apocalyptic scenes as Greece set ablaze by wildfire hell

MORE : Is it safe to travel to Greece?

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.