Rhodes wildfires – latest news: Jet2 and Tui scrap Rhodes flights as tourists fleeing island describe ‘hell on earth’

A British tourist has described the scenes in Rhodes as “hell on earth” as wildfires continue to tear through the Greek holiday destination for a sixth consecutive day.

Becky Mulligan, a 29-year-old training manager from Leicester, was staying at the Princess Sun Hotel in the Kiotari resort on Rhodes’s southeast coast when she, her daughter, 5 and sister, 20 say they were forced to flee.

“Smoke started coming up against the window of the hotel so we decided to run,” she told The Independent. “There were helicopters hovering above making the whole building shake.

“We ended up legging it down a dirt track as the smoke came up around our legs. I thought I was going to die. It was like hell on earth”.

Thousands of tourists and residents fleeing a wildfire on the Greek island of Rhodes huddled in schools and shelters on Sunday, with many evacuated on private boats from beaches as flames menaced resorts and coastal villages.

Thousands spent the night on beaches and streets.

“It was literally like the end of the world,” British tourist Ian Murison told Sky News from a rescue boat he got after crowds filled buses in a chaotic evacuation from a beach.

Another British tourist, Amy Leyden, described the “terrifying” experience of being moved from two hotels with her 11-year-old daughter before being taken to a school.

“We were walking down the road at 2 o’clock in the morning and the fire was catching up with us,” she told Sky.

Rhodes is the latest victim of extreme wildfires, prompted by conditions caused by the climate crisis, The Independent’s senior climate correspondent Louise Boyle, reports.

Around the world, larger, more intense fires are being fuelled by extreme heat and drought. An unrelenting heatwave has blanketed Greece, and much of southern Europe, for weeks.

June was the planet’s hottest month in human history, and July looks set to at least match that record.

Temperatures have entered uncharted territory this summer due to an emerging El Niño warming pattern and the ever-worsening climate crisis driven by the burning of fossil fuels.

Tourists are taking refuge inside stadiums and schools as wildfires burn for the sixth day in a row in Rhodes.

Thousands of tourists were forced to flee their hotels and fire crews are now in a race against time to stop the fires from spreading further with 21mph (34kph) winds forecast for tomorrow.

British tourists have described being caught up in the “terrifying” ordeal, with the Foreign Office directing UK nationals towards a crisis management unit set up by the Greek authorities.

A tourist has described his fear at being in “imminent danger of being burned to death” as wildfires rage through Rhodes.

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

He said: “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.”

A British tourist has described being evacuated from Rhodes as wildfires raged the “scariest moment in my entire life.”

Dan Jones, a sports teacher from Torquay, Devon, had to climb onto a fishing trawler with his sons on Saturday night, describing it as “the scariest moment in my entire life”, adding: “What brave boys.”

A large wildfire burning on the Greek island of Rhodes for the fifth day has forced authorities to order an evacuation of four locations, including two seaside resorts, Oliver Browning reports.

In previous days, the wildfire was confined to the island’s mountainous centre, but aided by winds, very high temperatures and dry conditions, it spread toward the coast on the island’s central-eastern side on Saturday 22 July.

More than 3,500 locals and holidaymakers have been evacuated by land and sea to safety, with more evacuations expected from three villages on Sunday.

No injuries have been reported, according to Greek authorities. Watch the clip here:

Thomas Cook has cancelled all holidays to areas of Rhodes most affected by the wildfire until July 31.

The travel agency announced it had been in touch will all customers due to travel to Kiotari and Lardos – the areas of the Greek island at most risk – to arrange “swift refunds”.

It has also offered full refunds to customers due to depart for other parts of the island on Sunday and Monday who wish to cancel.

Thousands of holidaymakers and residents have been forced to evacuate their homes and hotels on the Greek island of Rhodes, as wildfires raged for a fifth day.

Coastguard vessels and more than 30 private boats evacuated at least 2,000 people from beaches on the south of the island, and in total an estimated 30,000 people have been moved to safety, local officials said.

Nick Ferris and Holly Bancroft report: