The Foreign Office is under pressure to change advice that it is safe to travel to the wildfire-ravaged Greek island of Rhodes, with critics saying the lack of action is leaving families out of pocket.
Politicians and consumer groups have called the Government’s inaction “staggering” and have urged it to update its guidance to advise against all but essential travel to the fire-hit destination.
The lack of official advice has meant operators and airlines have come up with their own policies, with some failing to offer refunds for cancellations or the opportunity to re-book on later flights.
Holidaymakers can usually only claim back on insurance on a holiday they cancel if the Foreign Office declares a country unsafe to travel to. That means some set to leave for Rhodes in the coming days must travel or face losing money.
British holidaymakers face a third day of disruption as large parts of the island remain off-limits. The Greek prime minister warned on Monday afternoon there could still be three more “difficult days”.
Consumer group Which? described the Government’s failure to change its official advice as “deeply unhelpful” and left many travellers at risk of losing all of what they paid for their trip.
Rory Boland, travel editor at Which?, told The Telegraph: “It does seem unusual to me that it hasn’t changed, the FCDO advice can be as granular as an area or a region, it doesn’t have to advise against all of Greece or, even, all of Rhodes.”
Confusion for consumers
Paul Charles, chief executive of travel consultancy The PC Agency, said the vacuum of advice had led to confusion for consumers, as different operators were adopting different policies.
Layla Moran, the Liberal Democrats’ foreign affairs spokesman,said: “As wildfires blaze and thousands are evacuated, it is staggering that the Foreign Office travel guidance for Rhodes does not advise against all but essential travel.”
She said that the inaction meant that many families were unable to make a claim against their insurance, leaving them paying the penalty for deciding not to fly out to the island.
One British man is facing losses of £10,000 after his family holiday was ruined by the ongoing wildfires.
Chris Elworthy, 42, a farmer from Faversham, in Kent, was due to fly with EasyJet to Rhodes with his wife Emma, 43, and two children, before both bookings were cancelled.
He said: “The holiday insurance is saying that we’re not covered because we didn’t have the additional natural disaster cover on top of the ordinary cover.”
EasyJet said it had now offered Mr Elworthy a voucher for the value of his flight as a gesture of goodwill.
No 10 defended its approach, saying that its advice was focused on people’s safety and informed by its representatives on the ground.
A No 10 spokesman said: “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 the advice may change, we do not want to act out of proportion to the situation on the ground.”
Over the weekend, Rhodes saw the largest-ever evacuation in Greece after 19,000 people had to be moved to safety due to huge wildfires.
This led to a number of airlines, including Tui and Jet2, cancelling flights across the first part of the week. Tui has now cancelled all incoming flights to Rhodes until Friday.
A series of repatriation flights were also run on Sunday night and throughout Monday.
EasyJet laid on two additional flights on Monday, Jet2 had three extra flights for 600 people and Tui took three planes back to the UK on Sunday overnight.
However, some reported scenes of chaos on the Tui flights, with a lack of information for flyers, and planes returning only half full.
A number of airlines, including British Airways, are now offering those set to fly out to Rhodes in the next week the option to re-book on a flight at a later date.
However, Ryanair was criticised by Which? after it said it would continue to run flights as normal without any opportunities to change bookings.
Mr Boland said it was “deeply irresponsible” to put customers in a position where they have the choice to fly into a natural disaster area or have to pay if they do not want to go.
He said: “It will smack to some customers as then cashing in on a natural disaster. It’s hugely unfair.”
Ryanair said it was operating as normal as it was unaffected by the forest fires.
Michael O’Leary, the airline’s chief executive, earlier said it had not seen passengers seeking to cancel flights to Rhodes over the weekend, given fires were more in the south of the island and the airport and most resorts are in the north.
Live Reporting
Maighna Nanu andEwan Somerville
'It was like the Titanic. They said families and children first - then everyone just pushed on'
When Nicola Barlett escaped the burning coastline in Rhodes, the evacuation order was given for women and children to board the coaches first.
But the rescue efforts soon descended into a mad scramble for the last remaining seats on board.
“It was like the Titanic,” the 34-year-old mother said.
Read more here
Refund for Greek holidaymakers the 'proper approach'
Ireland’s deputy premier has said that a refund would be the “proper approach” for those who want to cancel their holidays to Greek regions affected by wildfires.
Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheal Martin said Irish embassies and his department had received a number of queries from citizens, and advised them to listen to the Greek authorities’ advice.
He said the department is “increasing capacity” to reach Irish citizens impacted by wildfires in Greece.
Nearly 20,000 people, many of them tourists, are being evacuated from the island of Rhodes as large fires swept down from the mountains towards the south-western coastal resort towns.
Warnings of similar wildfire threats in Corfu and Evia have also been issued.
Latest statement from TUI
Here is the latest from airline TUI on their teams in Rhodes.
Our teams in Rhodes have been working tirelessly to support customers impacted by the wildfires in south-eastern parts of the island and three dedicated flights brought our first customers safely back to the UK overnight. We have reps in all evacuation centres and we’re aiming to get more people home from the affected areas as soon as we can.
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 our teams.
We have cancelled all outbound flights to Rhodes up to and including Friday 28th July, and have also cancelled all outbound flights for customers travelling to impacted hotels up to and including on Sunday 30th July.
All customers due to travel on these flights will receive full refunds.
Passengers due to travel to areas not affected by fires on Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th July will be offered a fee free amend to another holiday or the option to cancel for a full refund. We are still operating empty outbound flights to bring those customers currently on holiday elsewhere in Rhodes home as planned and working to get those in affected areas as soon as possible.
The safety and well-being of our customers and teams remains our top priority.
Corfu blazes blamed on arson
The fire that hit Corfu is a result of arson, the mayor of North Corfu has claimed.
Around 2,000 people reportedly fled the island over the weekend from a fire which the authorities suggested may have started because ofarson.
Giorgos Mahimaris, the mayor of North Corfu, said the blaze was a result of arson, adding that residents and tourists were evacuated for safety reasons.
CharitonKoutscouris, the region’s deputy mayor of tourism and construction, toldthe BBC the fires were down to a “group of people.”
“They get pleasure out of this with the pain of the other people,” he told the BBC.
Mr Koutscouris said authoriites had a “suspicion” fires would be started this weekend.
Telegraph readers speak about their experiences
Golan Lambranzi, a Telegraph reader, said: “We were evacuated from Atlantica hotel on Saturday evening and arrived at Rhodes Town via boat at around 4am. A massive thank you to all the locals who helped with the rescue, helping guide us to the centers and looking out for us.
“It’s a difficult situation but I wish Tui would have just communicated to us that they couldn’t help, in the end we got a ferry to Marmaris, Turkey, so we could get accommodation as we have young children and have arranged a return flight a day earlier than scheduled.”
Ryanair resists pressure to put on rescue flights to Greece
Ryanair is resisting putting on emergency repatriation flights to Greece despite raging wildfires, with the budget airline insisting it will run schedules as normal today.
The company’s announcement came as rival carriers including EasyJet, Jet2 and TUI dispatched additional planes to the island of Rhodes, where thousands of British holidaymakers are trying to flee.
A notice on Ryanair’s website this morning said the airline’s flights in and out of Rhodes and Corfu, where there are also fires and evacuations, were “currently operating as normal and unaffected by the forest fires”.
Read more from Matt Oliver here
Thomas Cook customers 'no longer in evacuation centres'
All Thomas Cook customers who had to leave their accommodation in Rhodes over the weekend are either returning home or staying in another hotel.
Around 50 customers were forced to evacuated due to the wildfires which have hit part of the island, the firm said.
In a statement, it went on: “We no longer have any customers in evacuation centres.
“We are in touch with customers who arrived on the island yesterday to areas unaffected by the fire and they are enjoying their holiday.
“We will continue to monitor the situation and work with our local partners and local authorities to ensure the safety of our customers.
“We are extending our policy for offering full and swift refunds to customers who are due to travel to Rhodes up to and including Wednesday July 26 and no longer wish to do so.”
'Traumatic' honeymoon experience in Rhodes
A woman celebrating her honeymoon on Rhodes has spoken of her “traumatic” experience after she and her husband were forced to evacuate their hotel on Saturday.
Claire Jones, 36, and her husband Paul, also 36, were evacuated by coach from the Village Rhodes Beach Resort near Lardos.
They were driven to another beach where they were placed on three different boats to escape from the wildfires currently ripping through the Greek island.
“It was really quite traumatic driving to where we went because you could see everyone fleeing their hotels, and people were walking along the beaches, walking along the roads, and they had babies and small children,” Ms Jones, from Leicestershire, told the PA news agency.
Before the coaches arrived, Ms Jones recalled: “When we got to the car park and you could see the fires getting closer and closer and closer, and the coaches weren’t turning up [...] that was really worrying. When we first got on the coach, that was the most scary, because I thought, if that wind blows towards us, that fire is going to hit this coach.”
Ms Jones added she and her husband are “very lucky” as they managed to flee to Faliraki in the north of the island, where they had planned to stay later in their trip.
Flights 'coming home half-empty' from Rhodes
Flights carrying British holidaymakers away from the fire-ravaged island of Rhodes are returning to the UK “half-empty,” passengers have claimed.
Airline TUI said “three dedicated flights” had returned to the UK from the Greek island overnight, adding it had “plans in place to get everyone affected backassoonaspossible”.
Alexandra Roscacha, 28, who landed on a repatriation in Gatwick this morning, criticised the “chaotic” communication from TUI, claiming there was “ no information at all.”
She told The Telegraph: “The flight over was half-empty and that only speaks for itself that the communication from their side was so bad there were girls jumping on the flight five minutes before it took off.”
TUI has confirmedthat the flights weren’t full and said its communications were hit by “power outages.”
A TUI spokesperson said: “We can understand what a distressing situation it has been for customers and we’re trying our hardest to get them home in difficult circ*mstances.
“Flights that came back to the UK overnight were not completely full but, we have transferred hundreds of people back to the UK over night with compromised communications due to power outages and are doing our best to get those who want to return in the coming days back as soon as we can.”
Will the government put on extra repatriation flights?
Baroness Vere of Norbiton, aviation minister, told The Telegraph: “The airlines have been really, really helpful today in terms of putting on extra flights.
“I know some have put on bigger planes. We are not aware at the moment that there is a lack of capacity to the extent that the industry is unable to bring people back, who want to come back.
“But of course, we’re monitoring the situation very, very carefully. I think [repatriation flights] is for the industry to step in.”
She added: “The industry is stepping in to ensure that they can get people home if they want to come,” adding, “let’s just try and get the balance right between not causing absolute panic, and making sure that people are aware that they must check with their travel insurance and speak to their travel operators.”
Greek PM: 'We're at war with the fire'
Greece is “at war with the fire”, its Prime Minister has said, warning people to remain on constant alert.
In a statement to parliament, Kyriakos Mitsotakis said there are “three difficult days ahead of us” before forecasters expect the temperature to drop in Rhodes.
The Greek Prime Minister said: “In Rhodes, after the second day, there were some signs of remission...but later, the flames covered rapidly a huge area, at the same time when 15 fire-fighting airplanes were operating and tens of fire trucks.”
He continued: “This battle is uneven, and it will keep being like that for as long as the conditions remain hard. We’re at war with the fire and we will rebuild everything lost, will compensate anyone affected.”
He added that only 10 per cent of tourists on the island have been affected by the wildfires.
Downing Street: 'No plans for RAF to help people leave'
Downing Street defended not discouraging Britons from going to Rhodes after it sent a Foreign Office team to help holidaymakers amid fires.
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.
'We are at war with wildfires,' says Greek PM
Greece is “at war” with wildfires, the Greek prime minister has warned, as tens of thousands of tourists flee Corfu and Rhodes.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis said: “We are at war and are exclusively geared towards the fire front.” He added that it would be “three difficult days” before temperatures cooled.
Greek wildfires should be 'big, big warning'
Tourists planning trips to the Mediterranean should see the Greek wildfires as a “big, big warning”, with climate change set to fuel more severe blazes in future, one of the UK’s leading climate scientists has said.
Sir David King, former UK chief scientific adviser and chairman of the Climate Crisis Advisory Group, said many people will die from heat stress because of the relentless heatwaves over southern Europe, where millions of Britons travel on holiday each year.
Speaking to the PA news agency from another Greek island, Sir David warned tourists to take care in the heat, adding that he has “no doubt” that the extreme temperatures are due to melting ice in the Arctic caused by greenhouse gases emitted by people heating the Earth’s atmosphere.
He said: “If you are in one of these very warm areas and you haven’t got air conditioning indoors you could suffer terribly - many people will die from heat stress.
“You must have moving air - it makes an enormous difference. If there’s a large fan, preferentially a roof fan, that is moving the air in the room... because moving the air helps to remove the perspiration from your body and keeps you cooler.
German government convenes crisis meeting over Rhodes wildfires
The German government is to convene a crisis meeting to discuss the impact of wildfires on the Greek island of Rhodes on German holidaymakers, according to a foreign ministry spokesperson.
Speaking during a regular news conference in Berlin, the spokesperson said the crisis meeting at 1100 GMT will allow the German government to “coordinate with our colleagues on the ground and then decide on possible further measures”.
An interior ministry spokesperson said that German federal police and fire fighters were already assisting Greek authorities in bringing affected people back to the mainland.
More details on Jet2 repatriation flights
Jet2.comhas announced that it will operate three repatriation flights from Rhodes to bring customers back to the UK. The repatriation flights are as follows:
- Rhodes to Manchester, departing tonight with 220 seats
- Rhodes to Leeds Bradford, departing tonight with 189 seats
- Rhodes to Birmingham, departing tonight with 189 seats
Jet2 adds more flights to bring Britons back from Rhodes
British travel company Jet2 said it would operate three extra flights on Monday night to bring more of its customers back to the United Kingdom, after wildfires on the Greek island of Rhodes left them stranded after they evacuated hotels.
Fires burning since Wednesday on Rhodes forced the evacuation of 19,000 people over the weekend as an inferno reached coastal resorts on the island’s southeast.
“We are in the seventh day of the fire and it hasn’t been controlled,” Rhodes Deputy Mayor Konstantinos Taraslias told state broadcaster ERT.
The fires left blackened trees and dead animals lay in the road near burnt-out cars.
'We were left without water for 12 hours'
The Telegraph’s Catherine Lough is at Gatwick airport, speaking to passengers disembarking flights from Rhodes.
Nicola Bartlett, 34, and her husband, Ross, travelled with their young daughter Bea.
They said: “There was no communication there with TUI, they didn’t tell us anything - all our stuff’s there, we had to just leave our stuff in our room, we’ve got no luggage, nothing.
“Our daughter slept for 24 hours out in a hotel lobby outside, no water, no food.
“We were left without water for 12, 13 hours... everyone was just barging onto the coaches, they didn’t care about families, and kids were screaming to their parents: “I don’t want to die.”
She added: “They just left us, dumped us at a hotel with no communication, just laying there with ash falling on you”
A TUI spokesperson said teams in Rhodes had been working “tirelessly” to support customers impacted and they were working hard to get everyone home safely.
“We can understand what a distressing situation it has been for customers and we’re trying our hardest to get them home in difficult circ*mstances,” they said, adding, “the safety and well-being of our customers and teams remains our top priority.”
Rishi Sunak: Stay in touch with tour operators
Rishi Sunak has urged holidaymakers hit by wildfires across Greece to remain in touch with tour operators.
Speaking to broadcasters on a visit to the West Midlands, the Prime Minister said: “My paramount priority is the safety of British nationals, that’s why the Deputy Prime Minister chaired a Cobra meeting yesterday, he’s been monitoring the situation closely.
“The most important thing is people remain in touch with their tour operators, there are lots of flights going back and forth to be able to bring people home, and if people are in touch with their tour operators they will get the information that they need.”
TUI: 'Situation under control'
This is the latest update from TUI on the situation in Corfu.
A spokesman from TUI said: We’ve been working with the local authorities in Corfu following the outbreak of a wildfire in the north east of the island last night resulting in guests being evacuated from a small number of hotels. As a precautionary measure we also stopped new arrivals into the affected hotels for Monday 24th and Tuesday 25th July. The situation is now fully under control and guests are returning to their hotels to continue their holidays as planned.
Ryanair flights 'operating as normal'
Ryanair flights to and from Rhodes and Corfu are currently operating as normal and unaffected by the forest fire.
The company said:
Passengers departing from Rhodes should be advised that we will accept temporary travel documentation issued by the Greek Police.
The Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also set up a helpdesk at Rhodes airport to assist visitors who have lost their travel documents.
Please check your Ryanair app where you will be notified of any changes to your Ryanair flight.
TUI: 'First passengers returning to the UK'
Travel firm Tui has said holidaymakers have returned to the UK from Rhodes on “three dedicated flights”.
It said in a statement: “We’re now working hard to get everybody home safely, with our first passengers returning to the UK on three dedicated flights overnight and plans in place to get everyone affected back as soon as possible.
“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.
“The safety and wellbeing of our customers and teams remains our top priority.”
'Too early to condemn holiday companies'
It is too early to condemn holiday companies, Foreign Office minister Andrew Mitchell has said.
When asked by BBC Radio 4’s Today programme if holiday companies have acted appropriately, he said: “Well, I think it’s too early, certainly to condemn them. I think that there’s every evidence that they have been doing what they should.”
Up to 10,000 Britons on Rhodes
Up to 10,000 Britons are estimated to be on fire-ravaged Rhodes, Andrew Mitchell, a Foreign Office minister, has said.
Mr 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.
James Cleverly: Rapid Deployment Team in Rhodes
James Cleverly, the Foreign Secretary, has said the safety of British nationals is the UK’s “top priority.”
— James Cleverly🇬🇧 (@JamesCleverly) July 24, 2023We are in close contact with authorities in Greece. We are grateful to @govgr for their work to tackle the fires.
A Rapid Deployment Team of @FCDOGovUK and @BritishRedCross responders is in Rhodes to support British Nationals, whose safety is our top priority. https://t.co/vRLq0gG6WP
'The largest evacuation from a wildfire in Greece'
Firefighters struggled through the night to contain 82 wildfires across Greece, 64 of which started Sunday, the hottest day of the summer so far.
Their efforts were without the help of firefighting planes and helicopters, which do not operate at night.
The most serious fire was on the island of Rhodes. Some 19,000 people had been evacuated from several locations on the island as wildfires burned for a sixth day.
The Ministry of Climate Change and Civil Protection said it was “the largest evacuation from a wildfire in the country.”
Watch: 'It looked like hell on earth'
— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) July 24, 2023'Close up it looked like Hell on Earth'
These tourists have arrived back from Greece as wildfires threaten holidaymakers in Rhodes and Corfuhttps://t.co/Pvas2SCAOE pic.twitter.com/O8frnZ0RIo
Travel firms told they ‘must not fail’ Britons stranded after Rhodes wildfires
Travel companies are scrambling to repatriate thousands of tourists from a Greek island ravaged by wildfires, as British holidaymakers spent a second night in temporary accommodation.
Government officials held emergency meetings on Sunday as they called for more help for those stranded in Rhodes.
EasyJet announced it would be running three repatriation flights back to the UK for those forced to flee from their hotels at the start of peak holiday season.
Read more from Hayley Dixon and Dominic Penna here
30,000 flee Rhodes blazes
Some 30,000 people fled the flames on Rhodes at the weekend, the country’s largest-ever wildfire evacuation.
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.
“We had to lend a woman some of my wife’s clothes because she had nothing to wear,” Kevin Sales, an engineer from England, told AFP. “It was terrible.”
Tourists and some locals spent the night in gyms, schools and hotel conference centres on the island.
Several travel companies have halted their inbound tourist flights to Rhodes, but have been helping to ferry foreigners home.
Crews have been battling the flames in parts of Greece for about a week, and firefighters were from dawn on Monday using aircraft to try to douse the flames on Rhodes.
According to the authorities, many regions of the country were under extreme risk of forest fires on Monday, but no towns were directly threatened by flames on Sunday night, the fire service told AFP.
Minister's evacuation claims appear to conflict with Greek officials
Foreign Office minister Andrew Mitchell suggested there are only internal evacuations taking place on the Greek island of Corfu - despite officials on the island insisting that there are more widespread rescue operations underway.
Asked on BBC Breakfast, in an interview at around 7:40am, about reports that 2,000 people are being evacuated from Corfu, Mr Mitchell said: “The advice again is to listen carefully to your tour operator and the travel company.
“But 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.”
Earlier he told Sky News he was not sure how many UK citizens are in Corfu, saying: “We’re not sure how many are on Corfu, but the position on Corfu is very different, the fires are not taking place in residential areas or holiday areas.”
#corfu within the last hour just above Ypsos pic.twitter.com/4fJ6IKrETP
— pete (@petemedical) July 23, 2023
First repatriation flights out of Rhodes
Meanwhile in Rhodes, the first repatriation flights are due to arrive on the fire-ravaged Greek island to rescue British holidaymakers stuck in a “living nightmare”.
Airline easyJet will operate two rescue flights totalling 421 seats on Monday and a third on Tuesday, in addition to its nine scheduled flights to the Greek island.
It comes after authorities began evacuating large swathes of the island of Corfu, which is also popular with British holidaymakers, after fires spread there on Sunday.
Meanwhile, a British Foreign Office spokesman confirmed a Rapid Deployment Team had arrived on Rhodes to support travel operators in bringing Britons home.
Some flights out of Rhodes were delayed on Sunday night, including an easyJet flight due to arrive in Gatwick at 9pm which touched down at 11.30pm after stopping for a crew change in Milan.
A later easyJet flight landed at Gatwick at 2.23am, an hour and a half after it was due, while there were further delays amid the overnight flights from Jet2 and Tui to Nottingham, Birmingham, Stansted, Manchester and Newcastle.
Further easyJet, Jet2 and Ryanair flights from Rhodes were scheduled to arrive at Gatwick, Stansted and Bristol on Monday afternoon.
2,500 people evacuated from Corfu
Good morning and welcome to our live updates of the wildfires crisis on the Greek islands.
Authorities evacuated nearly 2,500 people from the Greek island of Corfu on Monday as crews fight several wildfires in heat-battered Greece.
Tens of thousands of people have already fled blazes on the island of Rhodes, with many frightened tourists scrambling to get home.
About 2,400 visitors and locals were evacuated from Corfu from Sunday into Monday, a fire service spokesman said, adding that the departures were a precaution.
Greece has been sweltering under a lengthy spell of extreme heat that has exacerbated wildfire risk and left visitors stranded in peak tourist season.
Related Topics
- Rhodes,
- Corfu,
- Wildfires,
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