Two repatriation easyJet flights are taking British holidaymakers home today
The first repatriation flights set to rescue British holidaymakers stranded on fire-ravaged Rhodes are arriving today.
EasyJet is sending two rescue flights to the Greek island with a total of 421 seats on Monday, and a third on Tuesday, in addition to its scheduled flights.
Jet2 has three repatriation flights leaving the island this evening, flying 598 additional customers to Manchester, Leeds Bradford and Birmingham.
It comes after authorities began evacuating huge numbers of people off the island of Corfu – another popular destination for British tourists – after fires spread there yesterday.
The British government, meanwhile, has sent a Rapid Deployment Team to Rhodes to help travel operators bringing Brits home.
A number of flights set to leave Rhodes last night were delayed, among them an easyJet flight that was due to land at Gatwick at 9pm, but had to stop in Milan fora crew change, and finally touched down in the UK at 11.30pm.
There were also delays on Jet2 and Tui flights to Nottingham, Birmingham, Stansted, Manchester and Newcastle.
On Saturday, families fled their hotels as ferocious flames edged closer, with some having to spend the night in schools and stadiums.
People take shelter at a sports hall in Venetokleio, Rhodes (Picture: Anadolu Agency/Getty)
Ryanair and easyJet are so far continuing to send passengers to the island despite the fires, prompting criticism from customers.
A spokeswoman for easyJet 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.
Tui was flying passengers until late Saturday, but has now suspended all flights till Tuesday, while Jet2 Holidays has cancelled its trips until Sunday.
Helen Tonks, a mother of six from Cheshire, said she was flown into a ‘living nightmare’ by Tui at 11pm on Saturday and found her hotel had been closed.
She said she and her family were ‘abandoned’ and forced to sleep with hundreds of others on a school floor.
Tourists at Rhodes airport line up at the check-in counters (Picture: Reuters)
Ms Tonks said the decision by airlines to continue their usual service was ‘inexcusable and negligent – (putting) profit before safety’
Until Saturday, the fire on Rhodes had been confined to the island’s mountainous centre, but winds, dry conditions and high temperatures saw it move towards the central-eastern coast.
Around 19,000 people had been evacuated, according to Greek authorities who said it was ‘the largest evacuation from a wildfire in the country’.
Kevin Evans was evacuated twice with his wife and three young children, including a six-month old baby, on Saturday as the fire rapidly spread.
He said: ‘We were originally in Kiotari in a villa but were moved to Gennadi at about 2pm.
Smoke rises from a wildfire on the island of Rhodes yesterday (Picture: Ted G Bailos via Reuters)
‘There were lots of people in Gennadi sent from the hotels – many in just swimsuits having been told to leave everything in the hotel.
‘As night fell, we could see the fire on the top of the hills in Kiotari. They said all the hotels were on fire.
‘About midnight the fire started moving on to our side of the hill. The alerts were going off again but not to everyone at once with some people telling us to stay put and others receiving messages to evacuate.
‘We left at midnight with the fire very big and close.’
Meanwhile, Dan Jones, a sports teacher from Torquay, ended up climbing on a fishing trawler with his sons on Saturday night, describing it as ‘the scariest moment’ in his life, adding: ‘What brave boys.’
He posted a photo on Twitter of the boys sitting on the boat with the roaring fire in the background.
Ian Wakefield told Times Radio he spent the night in a school playground in Faliraki after being moved from his hotel in Pefki.
Holidaymakers found wherever they could to sleep at the airport (Picture: Reuters)
‘It didn’t really feel real – being in imminent danger of being burned to death.
‘Between midnight and around 5am this morning we were going through an evacuation which was pretty chaotic.
‘There were a lot of upset people and children who were understandably quite hysterical.
‘It was all very confusing – the instructions from the hotel manager were unclear.
‘You had to make your own choice in the end. I’ve had to leave quite a lot of luggage in the hotel.’
In an update yesterday, a spokeswoman for the Foreign Office said: ‘We are actively monitoring the fires in Rhodes and are in close contact with local authorities.
A number of flights back to the UK were delayed yesterday (Picture: Reuters)
‘The FCDO has deployed a Rapid Deployment Team (RDT) of five FCDO staff and four British Red Cross responders to Rhodes to support British nationals whose safety is our top priority. They will be based at Rhodes International Airport to assist with travel documents and liaise with Greek authorities and travel operators on the ground.
‘British nationals in Rhodes should contact their travel operator in the first instance for any queries regarding the rescheduling of flights and continue to check our updated gov.uk travel advice for information.’
The latest advice on the Foreign Office website said people in Rhodes could contact the Greek government’s own crisis management unit.
It has so far not issued a ‘do not travel’ to Greece warning.
A Tui spokeswoman said the firm’s ‘main priority’ was the safety of its customers, and its staff were doing ‘all they can’ to help those affected by the fires.
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