Luxair CEO Gilles Feith has confirmed reports that 80 of the airline's clients have been evacuated from the wildfires ravaging parts of the Greek island of Rhodes.
A number of local hotels already had to be evacuated on Saturday afternoon. People were brought to safety with the help of boats and busses. Among them were several Luxembourgish tourists, and news of the evacuation quickly spread on social media.
Luxair CEO Gilles Feith has since confirmed to our colleagues from RTL.lu that a total of 80 Luxair clients had to be evacuated. The airline has been in close contact with local authorities, said Feith and explained that their clients will be flown back to Luxembourg on Sunday.
He underlined that the north of the island is not impacted by the wildfires and that there should be no concerns for anyone who planned a vacation here. He further noted that no flights to Rhodes have been cancelled for that reason and that only few people have opted to cancel a planned trip to the Greek island at this point.
Feith also acknowledged that coordination with people who booked through a travel agency is more complicated. Clients who have not yet been contacted by Luxair should therefore call their agency via the number indicated on their travel papers.
A burned-down hotel in the village of Kiotari. / © AFP
Tui suspends flights to Rhodes
German operator TUI has decided to suspend all their flights to Rhodes until Tuesday. They will however send planes to the island to help bring back clients, a spokesperson for the operator said on Sunday.
At the moment, Tui has about 40,000 clients on Rhodes, of which an estimated 7,800 are impacted by the wildfires.
Private boats aiding in the rescue process
According to Greek public radio, 8,000 people fled the fires on foot from the south of the island. Around 30,000 people had to be moved to safety, including more than 2,000 who were rescued from beaches with the help of boats.
Private boats also helped with the evacuation, the Greek coast guard has stated.
Sunday marked the sixth day of wildfires, which reached the coast south of the popular tourist destination Lindos on Saturday. About a dozen local hotels are usually fully booked this time of the year. According to German media, two towns and a handful of hotels in the area had to be evacuated.
Broadcaster ERT and Greek news agency ANA further report that flames reached the town of Laerma on Saturday night. A few houses and a church burned down and a couple of hotels were damaged.
