Forest fires on the island of Rhodes have reached the southwest coast. According to Greek media, three hotels caught fire. These will mainly be properties of holiday centers in Mitsis Village, Lindian Village and one of the hotel companies of the Hatzilazaro Group north of Kiotari. Residents and guests are being evacuated, also by sea with the help of the Greek Coast Guard. According to Greek media, the number of displaced people will be estimated at around 1,000.
look. The manager of the Flemish B&B in Rhodes testifies: “The fire burned very strongly because of the strong winds”
Firefighters have been battling wildfires on the Greek island of Rhodes for five days. While other forest fires in Greece are currently under control, the fire continues to spread in Rhodes. Many hotels have been evacuated today. Hundreds of tourists had to be brought to safety by coast guard buses and boats. The Rhodes fires started in the island’s wooded, mountainous and sparsely populated center, but calls for evacuations have now reached the southwest coast. High winds fanned the fire.
These hotels are mainly located in the coastal town of Kiotari, which is about 55 kilometers south of Rhodes Town. A fire department spokesman said the fire was difficult to put out. Strong winds with the force of six winds are blowing in the area around Rhodes. “The smoke is so thick that you can hardly breathe. People are being transported to Gennadi, where they are being transported to other hotels,” Rhodes deputy mayor Konstantinos Traraslias told Sky news channel in Athens.
In mainland Greece, it is feared that fires will break out again due to the drought and heat sweeping across the country in waves. The average temperature in Greece was 36.5 degrees on Friday, but above 40 degrees in many places. Locally it could be higher than 40 degrees tomorrow.
look. Several Greek cities had already been evacuated as a precaution last week:
Many Greeks remember with fright the July 1987 heat wave when it was sweltering for about two weeks and nearly 1,300 people succumbed to the heat. The Deputy Director of the Hellenic Institute of Meteorology, Theodoris Kollidas, said, according to Greek media, that it is difficult to compare the heat wave that year with the heat prevailing today. Then it was continuously hot and now there are three waves.
Many European countries have sent firefighting planes and/or firefighters to help extinguish the fire. Slovak and Romanian firefighters are active in Rhodes, among others. It also operates a Jordanian and Israeli fire extinguisher. Greece is also receiving help from its major rival, Türkiye. That sent two firefighting planes and a helicopter. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis today thanked Turkey for its assistance in fighting forest fires in Greece. “Thank you, Turkey,” the Greek prime minister wrote on Twitter. Today, the two planes arrived at an air base near Athens.
Neighboring countries Greece and Turkey have been fighting for years over rights and natural gas resources in the Aegean Sea and the eastern part of the Mediterranean. Just last year, Erdogan threatened to invade the Greek islands because Greece militarized these islands against international agreements. Türkiye has claims over fourteen Greek islands, including Rhodes. However, there has been some rapprochement between the two rival NATO nations in recent weeks. For example, Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently agreed on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Lithuania to facilitate some rapprochement. Tensions between the two countries began to subside after the strong earthquake that hit Turkey in February. Athens immediately sent aid with other countries.
Forest fires ravage Greece: 200 European firefighters help fight the fires
heat map. Very hot with temperatures reaching 46 degrees: This is how hot your vacation destination can be
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