Up to ‘10,000 Britons’ on Rhodes as repatriation flights land in UK

Up to 10,000 Britons are estimated to be on fire-ravaged Rhodes, with repatriation flights to rescue holidaymakers landing back in the UK.

People have told of being forced to sleep with hundreds of others in schools, airports and sports centres across the popular Greek island, while one tourist arrived to hear the hotel she booked had burned down.

Others have vented their frustrations at travel firms for their lack of information about how the wildfires, which began to spread on Saturday, will affect their holiday plans.

It came as travel operator Tui confirmed that holidaymakers returned to the UK on “three dedicated flights” overnight, with plans to bring more back “as soon as possible” in place.

Jet2 said a repatriation flight carrying 95 passengers landed at Leeds Bradford Airport on Sunday evening before another four leave the island later on Monday.

Britons have not been discouraged from going to Rhodes, a decision Downing Street has defended.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “Our advice is focused on the safety of British nationals and enabling people to make an informed decision about the situation on the ground.

“The current situation is impacting on a limited area in Rhodes and whilst it’s right to keep it under review and it’s possible that the advice may change we do not want to act out of proportion to the situation on the ground.”

He said there are “not currently” plans to get the RAF to help people leave.

Meanwhile, Rishi Sunak urged holidaymakers to remain in touch with tour operators.

Foreign Office minister Andrew Mitchell said it is “peak holiday season”, with between 7,000 and 10,000 Britons estimated to be on the island.

He told Times Radio: “What we’re telling people to do is to keep in touch with their tourist company, and that is the right advice.”

He added: “There were only 10 free beds on the whole island when I asked yesterday. But we think that something like 1,000 beds may well come back on stream today as others don’t now come and therefore more beds are available.”

Airline easyJet will operate two flights totalling 421 seats on Monday and a third on Tuesday, in addition to its nine scheduled flights to the Greek island.

Jet2 announced that hundreds will be repatriated via four separate flights to Manchester, Leeds Bradford (twice) and Birmingham later in the evening, in addition to more than 50 scheduled flights.

Meanwhile, a Foreign Office spokesman confirmed a Rapid Deployment Team has arrived on Rhodes to support travel operators in bringing Britons home.

The wildfire had been confined to the island’s mountainous centre but, aided by winds, very high temperatures and dry conditions, it spread towards the coast on the island’s central-eastern side.

Helen Tonks, a mother-of-six from Cheshire, said she was flown into a “living nightmare” by Tui at 11pm on Saturday and discovered her hotel had been closed.

She told The Sun newspaper: “We landed and were told ‘Sorry, you can’t go to your hotel – it’s burned down’.

“We had no idea the fires were this bad or as close to the hotels as they were. Tui said nothing, not even when our flight was delayed. Even the captain’s chat on the plane was upbeat.

“We would never have come if we had known.”

Laura and Marc Hall are celebrating their wedding anniversary while on holiday on the island and are due to fly back to the UK on Friday.

Mrs Hall told BBC Breakfast: “It’s been a nightmare. On Saturday night we were just having a drink and we knew that other places had been evacuated but we were just told to stand by.

“There was ash falling in our drinks and we could just see a blaze in the distance and a load of smoke. We were told not to do anything and then all of a sudden we had alarms going off on our phone and the waiter was saying ‘Stand by’, shouting ‘Mayday, mayday’.

“So it was just a mad panic. We all started packing. We were just told to wait and we might have to evacuate, so we just stayed in our rooms and at 3am we get a call, we’ve got to go.”

They were taken to a basketball stadium and spent the night sleeping on the floor.

Mr Hall said: “The only information we’ve had from Tui is an email yesterday to say ‘Hope you’re enjoying your holiday’. We just want them to be upfront about it.”

Dan Jones, a sports teacher from Torquay, had to climb on to a fishing trawler with his sons on Saturday night, describing it as “the scariest moment” in his life and adding: “What brave boys.”

Ian Wakefield told Times Radio he spent the night on a school playground in Faliraki after being moved from his hotel in Pefki.

Nursery worker Vicky Morris, 34, from Cheltenham, told The Sun her four-year-old daughter Cassie Bell asked: “Are we going to die, Mummy?”

An easyJet spokeswoman said the company is doing “all it can” to help customers in Rhodes and invited those due to travel to or from the island until Saturday to change the date for free.

A Tui spokeswoman said the firm’s “main priority” is customers’ safety and its staff are doing “all they can” to help those affected by the fires.

The firm later said: “We appreciate how distressing and difficult it’s been for those who have been evacuated and ask that they continue to follow the advice of the local authorities and keep in touch with the Tui reps who are present in all evacuation centres. Our teams will be contacting customers with any updates as soon as they can.

“We have cancelled all outbound flights to Rhodes up to and including Tuesday, and passengers due to travel on these flights will receive full refunds.

“Passengers due to travel on Wednesday will be offered a fee-free amend to another holiday or the option to cancel for a full refund. We are still operating flights to bring those customers currently on holiday elsewhere in Rhodes home as planned.”

Jet2, which has cancelled all flights and holidays due to depart to Rhodes up to and including Sunday, has “significantly increased” the number of its staff on the island.

Mr Mitchell, asked why the Government is not telling people not to go to the island, said: “It’s important to remember that only 10% of the island is affected by these fires. And therefore it is the tourist companies and the holiday experts who are best placed to give guidance on whether or not a family or individual’s holidays are going to be ruined by these events.”

Asked on LBC about reports that representatives of some holiday companies operating on Rhodes “seem to have gone missing”, Mr Mitchell said: “Well, that is a deplorable state of affairs and obviously we will be investigating all of that.”

However, he suggested no evacuations are taking place on the Greek island of Corfu amid reports that 2,000 people were being evacuated.

He told BBC Breakfast at 7.40am: “I can tell you that the information I had one minute before this interview started is that there are not any evacuations from Corfu. There had been movement of people overnight within Corfu but this morning they have been sent back to their earlier accommodation.

“So I hope the situation is a little better and more stable than your reports suggests.”