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Photo taken on 22 shows a massive wildfire raging the Rhodes island in Greece. Alamy Stock Photo

Over 2,000 evacuated from Corfu as Greece's largest-ever wildfire evacuation continues

It comes as tens of thousands of people fled wildfires on the Greek island of Rhodes yesterday.

OVER 2,000 PEOPLE have been evacuated from Greece’s Corfu as firefighters tackle blazes that erupted in peak tourism season.

Fires have been raging in the north of the island, with 2,466 people evacuated overnight between Sunday and this morning, said Yannis Artopios, but no houses or hotels had been destroyed so far.

It comes as tens of thousands of people fled wildfires on the Greek island of Rhodes yesterday as terrified holiday makers scrambled to get home.

The fires have created the country’s largest-ever wildfire evacuation – leaving flights and holidays cancelled.

Hundreds of holidaymakers milled inside Rhodes international airport, some trying to sleep on their beach towels as they waited for flights off the island.

Kelly Squirrel, a transport administrator on holiday from the UK, told AFP she spotted the fires from the poolside and ran down to the beach after being told to evacuate.

“We were walking for about six hours in the heat” to escape, she said.

Rhodes is one of Greece’s most popular holiday destinations, particularly with British, German and French tourists.

In the rush to leave, some visitors had to abandon their belongings.

rhodes-island-22nd-july-2023-this-photo-taken-on-july-22-2023-shows-smoke-caused-by-a-massive-wildfire-in-the-rhodes-island-in-greece-at-least-2000-residents-and-holidaymakers-were-evacuated-by Thousands of holiday makers and residents have evacuated by sea in the fire-stricken areas of Rhodes island. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Here, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has advised Irish citizens in Rhodes to “stay away” from areas affected by wildfires burning out of control on the island.

A spokesperson for the DFA said it has been contacted by “a number of Irish citizens impacted by the current fires in Rhodes”.

“Irish citizens are being advised to be alert and stay away from the affected areas, and to move rapidly out of any areas affected,” the spokesperson said.

The DFA also said that anyone planning to travel to Greece should check with their travel operator or hotel to see if the area they plan to visit is impacted by the current wildfires and evacuations, as there is “likely to be travel disruption”.

“The Department is advising against travel to the affected areas,” they added.

Fires on other islands

Other Greek islands were reporting similar problems.

A wildfire broke out on Greece’s second-largest island, Evia, according to the fire services, and several residential areas had to be evacuated.

Evia, situated off central Greece’s eastern coast, was devastated last year by some of the worst wildfires in the country’s history.

And several hundred miles to the northwest, the Greek island of Corfu, another favourite with foreign tourists, was struggling with its own wildfires yesterday evening.

Officials on the island, which sits in the Ionian sea off the northwest of Greece, have already issued evacuation alerts for 12 villages there, the Athens News Agency reported.

The coast guard there said a rescue operation was underway at Nissaki beach on the northeast of the island, due to a wild fire.

Six coastguard vessels and seven private boats had already taken 59 people off the beach.

Holiday flights cancelled

Greece has been battered by an extended spell of extreme heat and fires have burned for nearly a week on Rhodes.

On Rhodes, winds of up to 49 kilometres (31 miles) per hour complicated efforts to bring the flames under control.

“This is the biggest fire evacuation ever in Greece,” Konstantia Dimoglidou, Greek police spokeswoman told AFP of the Rhodes operation. “We had to evacuate an area of 30,000 people.”

Police said the authorities had transported 16,000 people across land, and evacuated 3,000 by sea. Others had to flee by road or used their own transport after being told to leave the area.

German travel giant Tui said it was suspending all its inbound passenger flights to Rhodes until tomorrow but would send empty planes to help evacuate tourists.

Spokesperson Linda Jonczyk told AFP that Tui had some 40,000 tourists in Rhodes, of which 7,800 are affected by the fires.

The low-cost British carrier Jet2 also said it had cancelled “all flights and holidays” to the island.

Authorities have warned that the battle to contain the flames will take several days.

More than 260 firefighters, backed by 18 aircraft, were battling the fire yesterday, with Croatia, France, Slovakia and Turkey having contributed equipment and personnel, officials said.

Last year Rhodes, which has a population of over 100,000, welcomed some 2.5 million tourists.

The fires reached the village of Laerma during the night, engulfing houses and a church, while many hotels were damaged by flames that had reached the coast. 

The authorities evacuated 11 villages overnight as a precaution.

Yesterday, the blaze was burning along three active fronts – including on the southeast coast of the island where firefighters tried to prevent the blaze from crossing a creek.

‘Leave everything’

Tourists and some locals spent the night in gyms, schools and hotel conference centres on the island.

The Greek foreign ministry and embassies in Greece were setting up a station at the Rhodes airport to help tourists who have lost travel documents in the scramble to evacuate.

TV footage broadcast by ERT Saturday showed a lone woman carrying her luggage through the smoke, looking disorientated.

Firefighters were heard shouting at her: “Madam, your life! Come here! Leave everything behind.’

A large part of the island was without electricity as the public power utility PPC shut down the local plant in the south for safety reasons.

“This is a special fire here because the heart of Rhodes and its environment is affected,” Efthymios Lekkas, a professor specialising in natural disasters told ERT TV yesterday, warning of a severe impact to the island’s tourist industry.

“All the big hotels have closed. I don’t think they will be able to operate this year because the surrounding area in each unit has been completely destroyed, and the environment is not inspiring for a holiday.”

© AFP 2022 

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    Mute Harry
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    Jul 24th 2023, 8:16 AM

    Arson, again.

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    Mute Sean O'Dhubhghaill
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    Jul 24th 2023, 8:31 AM

    @Harry: If you say so. But if some clown starts a fire today surely tbere were similar clowns starting fires 5, 19, 15 or 20 years ago? So why are today’s fires spreading so quickly that they rapidly get out of control, result in huge damage to property and the evacuation of 10s of 1000s?

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    Mute Harry
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    Jul 24th 2023, 9:43 AM

    @if they at least had decent content, that would be: Oh, I’m almost certain if you tried, you could come up with a better retort than that, even if you are only 12.

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    Mute jiminybillybob
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    Jul 24th 2023, 10:26 AM

    @Harry: now be nice harry, he’s probably exhausted after coming up with that

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    Mute IMHO
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    Jul 24th 2023, 12:17 PM

    @Sean O’Dhubhghaill: There’s far more media coverage ; everybody’s phone has footage in the form of Tiktok vids or news stories. The temptation to exacerbate the situation, to certain individuals, is far too great .

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    Mute Dave Mercedes3
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    Jul 24th 2023, 8:50 AM

    Fire crews on the ground said these fires were set on purposes

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    Mute Sean O'Dhubhghaill
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    Jul 24th 2023, 8:58 AM

    @Dave Mercedes3: Could you point us to where you read this?

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    Mute James Carroll
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    Jul 24th 2023, 9:10 AM

    @Sean O’Dhubhghaill: On Saturday, the authorities in Rhodes summoned a man (from the village of Apollo) for questioning over suspicions of arson, potentially linked to the fires but he hasn’t been charged yet. Although as you said, it doesn’t negate the impact of the heat and condition of the country and parts of Europe and experiencing the high temperatures.

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    Mute Helen Rafferty
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    Jul 24th 2023, 9:15 AM

    @Sean O’Dhubhghaill: just read below in British news:

    Locals claim many fires were set alight on purpose and some were said to be guarding untouched villages to stop it happening again.

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    Mute Harry
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    Jul 24th 2023, 9:18 AM

    @Sean O’Dhubhghaill: Google it.

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    Mute Tom Murphy
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    Jul 24th 2023, 7:53 AM

    The climate clowns will be along shortly

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    Mute Dave Mercedes3
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    Jul 24th 2023, 8:50 AM

    @Tom Murphy: looks like your the first one

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    Mute Stiofán Ó Nualláin
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    Jul 24th 2023, 9:08 AM

    The ‘it’s just weather’ thick as rock numpties will be here shortly….

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    Mute James Carroll
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    Jul 24th 2023, 9:10 AM

    @Stiofán Ó Nualláin: Here long ago!

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    Mute John
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    Jul 24th 2023, 9:17 AM

    @Stiofán Ó Nualláin: Some people don’t understand. And don’t even know they don’t understand. Which, I suppose, is something we just have to be patient with. It’s very hard to educate someone who doesn’t even know they don’t know. They can be annoying. And loud.

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    Mute Tom Murphy
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    Jul 24th 2023, 9:29 AM

    @Stiofán Ó Nualláin: you sound like a soyboy

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    Mute Dermot Lane
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    Jul 24th 2023, 9:42 AM

    @John: they’re scared. They can’t handle the truth. They console themselves by claiming conspiracy. They’re the same people who couldn’t handle a pandemic. Their little brains went into meltdown and haven’t recovered. It’s easier to blame Bill Gates than to accept that we live in a volatile, uncertain world.

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    Mute Harry
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    Jul 24th 2023, 9:45 AM

    @Dermot Lane: Personally, I handled the pandemic very well, I simply ignored it all.

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    Mute James Carroll
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    Jul 24th 2023, 9:47 AM

    @Harry: I think you proved his point for him!

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    Mute jiminybillybob
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    Jul 24th 2023, 10:29 AM

    @Dermot Lane: if we can change the climate how is it volatile and uncertain?

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    Mute Dermot Lane
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    Jul 24th 2023, 10:57 AM

    @jiminybillybob: a volatile and uncertain world, I said.

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    Mute James Carroll
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    Jul 24th 2023, 10:58 AM

    @jiminybillybob: He said, ‘we live in a volatile, uncertain world.’ Reading comprehension fail. Even if he meant the climate, volatility is the liability to rapidly change, unpredictably, especially for the worse. We can slow down this process or divert it (like with CFCs and the Ozone layer). Even if he meant the climate, uncertain because there’s a resistance to facts and action.

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    Mute Harry
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    Jul 24th 2023, 1:29 PM

    @James Carroll: @James Carroll: Well that’s not too surprising. As soon as ‘the science was settled’ it stopped being science. It became religion. Like any other religion it needed an Armageddon that could only be averted by obeying (and paying) the High Priests to appease the god of the day, the global warming cultists follow their green god, and just like past religious fanaticism, heretics must be burned at the stake.

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    Mute Áine G
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    Jul 24th 2023, 9:42 AM

    Greece, and it’s islands are incredibly hot in July and August, it’s nice in October, 22, and the sea is warm.Nothing really has changed, was in Stalis Crete 2008 and it was 42, it wasn’t really a holiday but an endurance.

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    Mute Alan
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    Jul 24th 2023, 10:35 AM

    @Áine G: lived on Crete for a year back in 1983. Had a good few days in 40s C.

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    Mute James Carroll
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    Jul 24th 2023, 10:59 AM

    @Áine G: I knew a lad who went somewhere hot some years ago. I guess that’s that then. Take that IPCC!

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    Mute Harry
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    Jul 24th 2023, 1:49 PM

    @James Carroll: Yes, let’s take the IPCC, whose very existence depends absolutely on climate change being a problem. Every member is paid, every member has a pension to look forward to, only because there’s a problem. That organisation will never announce ‘It’s not a problem after all’ . It has to be a problem or they’re all out of work. It is in their interests to perpetuate the idea that we are all going to die. It’s also a convenient excuse to steal more money from us because history has shown that the dinosaurs would still be alive today if only they had paid more tax.

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    Mute BarryH
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    Jul 24th 2023, 5:01 PM

    It is so comforting to know that climate scientists were wrong all along and that the likes of Attenborough, Carson, Gore and Thunberg and Science were the real deniers. We should take a class action against them all for their massive deception. We even believed that ‘fossil fuels’ which were dead for thousands of years could still give us oil and plastics, and destroy the planet despite having been dead for years. It would make you question as to whom you should believe. Sorry, I am so upset, I have to go, I need to have a quiet moment to myself.

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