Greece fires: Terrified tourists recall fleeing from bushfires as Rhodes evacuated

Holidaymakers have told how they were forced to run for their lives as roaring wildfires turned the idyllic island of Rhodes into “Hell on Earth”.

Dramatic pictures showed thousands of tourists desperately trying to flee the inferno, with many forced to abandon their belongings and sleep on beaches and hotel floors.

As travel firms prepared to start evacuating customers from the Greek island on Sunday night, the UK Foreign Office dispatched a rapid response team and Red Cross responders to help stricken Brits.

And now evacuation orders have been issued for some areas of the Greek island of Corfu due to wildfires.

On Rhodes, where temperatures hit 40C on Sunday, Abi James was holidaying with her husband, their friends and the couple’s two young sons Jasper and Finley when they saw flames approaching their hotel.

The family trekked five miles to safety in the searing heat.

“The kids were absolutely petrified, not to mention there was no electricity so zero lights — it was pitch black apart from the glow from the flames,” she said.

Sales director Chris Tappenden, 51, from Shropshire, told the Mail how he and his two children were forced to run for their lives, with flames lapping at their heels.

Their hotel, the Lindos Imperial Resort and Spa, was evacuated after it started filling with smoke.

They fled on foot along the coast.

“It was very scary. We ran in 37C heat with the flames following us,” he said.

“We could see the fire coming closer and closer. We didn’t have any of our stuff.

“We didn’t really know if we were going somewhere safe, we just followed everyone else – thousands of British and German people.

“We ran and ran, then finally managed to flag down a coach which took us to a beach hotel down the coast.

“It was designed to accommodate about 800 people, but at least 2000 ended up there.

“We slept outside on sun loungers on the beach and by the pool. The sky was orange from the fires. It was terrifying, like a warzone or something.”

Pictures from the Tui Magic Life hotel in Plimmiri Beach, where Chris and his children ended up, showed hundreds of holidaymakers camped out on loungers, beach towels and even the lobby floor.

The scene was repeated at other hotels, community centres, a sports stadium and the island’s airport.

Fellow holidaymaker Becky Mulligan described the scenes in Rhodes as “Hell on Earth”.

The 29-year-old training manager from Leicester was staying in Kiotari with her daughter, five, and sister, 20.

“Smoke started coming up against the window of the hotel so we decided to run,” she said.

“There were helicopters hovering above making the whole building shake. We ended up legging it down a dirt track as the smoke came up around our legs. I thought I was going to die.”

Flights to Rhodes were halted by UK holiday companies yesterday, but Jet2 and easyJet sent empty planes which will be used to evacuate Britons on Monday.

A Tui spokesman said the firm has around 40,000 customers in Rhodes, of which 7800 are affected by the fires.

On Sunday night, some holidaymakers escaping fires arrived back at Gatwick, and Rishi Sunak was being kept updated of the situation.