2023-07-23 10:53:04
While Greece is probably experiencing the longest heat wave ever recorded in its history, several violent fires have broken out in the country and the surrounding islands. On that of Rhodes, a forest fire has been raging for six days. It intensified and reached the tourist area on Saturday, prompting the authorities to evacuate tourists and residents of several villages. This is “the largest evacuation operation ever carried out in Greece”, according to the authorities.
The Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs has opened a crisis unit in Athens to facilitate the repatriation of foreign tourists. More than thirty boats and three ferries have been mobilized to evacuate them, about 2,000 have already been evacuated by boat from the island. This Sunday morning, local authorities on the island said they had sheltered 30,000 people threatened by the flames, in gymnasiums, schools or conference centers for the night.
Some 1,200 other people were still waiting to be evacuated from the villages of Pefki, Lindos and Kalathos, in the east of the island where the disaster is out of control. “This is not a fire that will be over tomorrow or the day after. He will bother us for several more days, ”warned a spokesman for the Greek firefighters Vassilis Varthakogiannis on Skai TV.
1. Warned by SMS, tourists from the most affected villages had to leave their hotels in a hurry
Crédit : Icon Sport / Mark Cosgrove / News Images / Sipa USA SUSA / Icon Sport
2. Holidaymakers from Lindos village, caught in the flames, were sheltered in a school in Rhodes before they could be evacuated from the island
Crédit : Icon Sport / Mark Cosgrove / News Images SUSA / Icon Sport
3. Thousands of tourists had to flee on the beach with suitcases and children, sometimes on foot because of roads cut by the flames
Crédit : REUTERS / Lefteris Damianidis DAMIANIDIS LEFTERIS
4. According to local authorities, some 30,000 people were able to leave the threatened areas by any means
Credit: AFP stringer / Eurokinissi Eurokinissi
5. More than thirty boats and three ferries were mobilized to carry out this evacuation
Crédit : REUTERS/Lefteris Diamandis DAMIANIDIS LEFTERIS
6. The forest fire that has been raging for several days has reached the tourist area and the beaches of the island, here in Lindos
Crédit : REUTERS / Lefteris Damianidis DAMIANIDIS LEFTERIS
7. Fanned by strong winds, the front of the fire extends over 9 km
Crédit : REUTERS / Argiris Mantikos / Eurokinissi. Eurokinissi
8. Three hotels in the Kiotari sector suffered damage
Crédit : REUTERS / Argiris Mantikos/Eurokinissi Eurokinissi
9. Five helicopters and 173 firefighters are engaged to fight the fire
Crédit : REUTERS / Argiris Mantikos / Eurokinissi Eurokinissi
10. The fire should not be brought under control for “several days”, alerted the Greek firefighters
Credit: Icon Sport / Christophe Gateau Picture Alliance / Icon Sport
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