Some 19,000 people had been evacuated from several locations on the island of Rhodes as wildfires burned for a sixth day.
Some 19,000 people were moved from homes and hotels overnight as fires burning since Wednesday gathered pace, tearing through forests until the flames reached coastal resorts on the island’s south-eastern coast.
Local police said 16,000 people were evacuated by land and 3000 by sea from 12 villages and several hotels.A person who fell and broke a leg during a hotel evacuation and a pregnant woman remained hospitalised, the latter in good condition, authorities said.The package holiday companies TUI and Jet2 cancelled flights to Rhodes.But the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport later announced that 14 TUI and Jet2 flights carrying 2700 passengers would depart from Rhodes airport by 3am on Monday .
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, since the road running down Rhodes’ eastern side was blocked in places. “Greece is handling this difficult situation with professionalism, putting emphasis on safely evacuating thousands of tourists, and can always count on European solidarity,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tweeted on Sunday evening.The weather remained hot in the Mediterranean country on Sunday.The highest reading, 46.4, was reached at the seaside town of Gytheio in southern Greece.
In the case of Corfu, they said the fire was “moving southeast on a broad front” and added that private vessels were on standby to pick up evacuees.
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