Around 19,000 tourists and islanders have been evacuated from southern Rhodes in the country’s largest ever evacuation. They have been housed where there is space – in sports halls, schools and in hotel receptions and conference rooms.
But thousands of people have not been given a place and have been forced to sleep under the open sky the night of Sunday, writes the Greek newspaper Ekathimerini.
The tour operators Apollo and Ving state that they are canceling all trips to the affected areas on Sunday.
New travelers arrive
At the same time, 1,300 Swedes have arrived in other parts of Rhodes with the tour operator Ving. Apollo, which has not managed to find beds for all its 160 evacuated passengers, has flown down around 500 new tourists on Sunday.
Ving’s press informer Anna Hagberg says that the tour operator is in close contact with the Greek authorities and that their travelers arrive in the northern part of the island, which is currently out of danger.
– It is a decision that we cannot take a stand on ourselves, in that case it must come from the Greek authorities. That you assess the situation so critically that you cannot accept more. But we have not received any such indications so far, she says.
Normal cancellation rules apply
Apollo’s press officer Martina Krantz says that the tour operator does not have the option to cancel trips as long as the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not advise against travel to the island.
– There are laws and regulations that we must comply with. For those traveling to the area that is not affected, the usual cancellation rules apply, she says.
Tui has gone even further and is canceling all trips from Europe to the entire island for two days, writes TT. The tour operator has also decided to fly down empty planes to bring home its Swedish travelers.
Apollo, Ving and Tui all say that travelers whose trips are canceled will get their money back.
Jessica Steninger is one of those evacuated from the fires – hear her talk about the situation in the video above.