Tourists are gathered at a school on July 22.
19,000 people evacuated due to fire
The Greek Coast Guard is leading efforts to evacuate some 19,000 people from areas ravaged by wildfires following a prolonged heatwave on the Greek island.
Bloomberg on July 23 quoted Greek fire brigade spokesman Ioannis Artopoios as saying that 3,000 people were rescued by sea and 16,000 by land.
Tourists are now trying to leave Rhodes. But many are spending the night outdoors or in evacuation centres such as schools, and airlines are struggling to find enough flights to take them home.
The Greek Civil Protection Ministry confirmed this was the largest evacuation in history due to a forest fire.
Smoke from forest fires on Rhodes island
Unprecedented effort
What happened on the island of Rhodes capped a week of extreme weather events across Europe, from hail and tornadoes in Italy to deadly floods and gales in the western Balkans.
“Over the past few days, beachgoers have seen firefighting planes flying overhead,” Bloomberg editor Sarah Muller said. Muller was recently evacuated from her hotel in Rhodes.
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The European Commission, Britain, France and Italy are among those assisting in firefighting and rescue efforts in Greece. Tour operators are chartering planes to the island so they can bring their clients home, according to the Athens News Agency.
The Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs has set up a task force at Rhodes airport to quickly process the flight procedures for foreigners. In addition, the ministry's emergency response unit has activated special phone numbers to receive calls from foreign tourists to organize timely evacuation.
Foreign tourists were evacuated on July 22.
Jet2 announced the cancellation of all five flights to Rhodes Island on July 23, instead sending an all-empty plane to evacuate tourists back home, according to Reuters.
TUI has cancelled all flights to Rhodes Island from now until July 25. EasyJet said it is closely monitoring the situation and complying with the requests of Rhodes Island authorities.
Rhodes police have been deployed to change routes and close several highways to ensure access to Rhodes International Airport in the north of the island.
Rhodes Island is a favourite destination for Brits, accounting for nearly 25% of international visitors in June. Germany and Poland are the second and third most popular nationalities for visitors respectively.
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