About 2,000 tourists and residents of Rhodes, Greece, have been evacuated from the island due to ongoing forest fires. This is reported by international media. The wildfires started five days ago, but have now spread across the entire island. authorities expect according to the Greek Kathimerini that at least 30,000 more people have to be taken from Rhodes.
Boats from the Greek Coast Guard and the National Army are being deployed in the large-scale evacuation. They are assisted by dozens of private boats moored near the island. Travel companies indicate that tourists will be transferred to other hotels or islands, or given the choice to go home. At least three hotels are said to have already been engulfed by the fire.
The local fire service receives help from firefighters from Turkey, Israel, Jordan and Slovakia, among others. Only a handful of injuries have been reported so far. At least ten percent of the tourist area on Rhodes is currently affected by the forest fires. Forest fires are also raging elsewhere in Greece, where temperatures can rise to 45 degrees this weekend.
In the south of the Peloponnese and west of the capital Athens, among others, forest fires are being fought and new fires could arise in the coming days due to the persistent high temperatures. The current heat wave in Greece is expected to be the longest heat wave the southern European country has ever experienced.
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