Travel agency Aurinkomatkat receives criticism from the family about the confusion of the information. Now the family is waiting at the evacuation site for a return flight.
From Vantaa Tommi Bergin, his wife and the couple’s 10- and 13-year-old children’s vacation in Rhodes took a terrifying turn on Saturday. The raging wildfires began to approach the family’s hotel and soon they saw flames near the hotel.
– We were at the Rodos Princess hotel. The situation was quite chaotic. The wildfire came close very quickly, and even on Friday evening only distant plumes of smoke could be seen. During the night and Saturday, it already came within a couple of hundred meters, Berg describes.
The family was constantly monitoring the danger messages coming to their cell phones. The instructions they received were sometimes contradictory and outdated. For example, the hotel staff did not immediately see the need for evacuation, even though the emergency bulletin already said that the Kiotar area would be evacuated.
Despite the reassurance of the hotel staff, the family started to pack their things into suitcases and prepare to leave the hotel. The proximity of the flames and the smoke penetrating everywhere made the atmosphere serious.
– The children were a little afraid of how it would turn out.
Information about the evacuation is confusing at first
The travel organizer Aurinkomatkat also receives some criticism from the family.
– I called Aurinkomatkat’s info line, but there was still old information and nothing was said about the evacuation of Kiotar.
In the end, the hotel organized a bus transfer to a safer area on the beach and then to a nearby village. At that point, no one could tell the travelers what would happen next.
– We were practically left there in the middle of nowhere, Tommi Berg wonders.
Shortly afterwards, however, the family received a message from Aurinkomatki that an evacuation transport to a safer place would leave in front of the village’s pharmacy.
– The bus was completely loaded, there were people sitting in the middle aisle as well.
The evacuation route went through clouds of smoke
The evacuation route ran dangerously through the wildfire area. Then the passengers got a little scared.
– The police could not let the bus through the roadblocks. Oncoming cars flashed their lights and made hand signals to turn around, Tommi Berg describes the family’s journey towards a safer place.
Finally, the travelers reached Faliraki’s basketball hall, where local volunteers tried to help the travelers. Aurinkomatko employees also visited on Saturday evening to look for Finnish tourists.
Berg arrived in Kiotari on a trip organized by Aurinkomatkat a week ago on Sunday. According to the original plan, the return trip should be this evening.
There is plenty of competition for mattresses, food and drink in temporary accommodation
The tired passengers tried to settle down in their places for the night, and not everything went smoothly.
– At first, there was a bit of a fight over the mattresses, when the volunteers fetched them from somewhere and brought them drop by drop.
After the initial delay, the emergency accommodation started working. Tommi Berg thanks the volunteers for taking good care of them. Food and drink are available and the family is doing well.
The suitcases were left at the original hotel, but in Berg’s opinion, they are a side issue in this situation.
Although a safe return home is now the most important thing for the family, the dramatic turn the vacation took has made them also think about climate change.
– It would be wild if such extreme phenomena and heatwaves become more common, and these crisis situations become more common. It’s a wild future.