It has been burning for almost a week on the island in Greece – where a long period of high temperatures has made it difficult to get the fire under control. And Sunday’s forecasts point to strong winds that could make the rescue services’ efforts even more difficult.
– The wind is expected to become more intense from noon to 5 p.m., but it can also happen earlier, says fire brigade spokesman Vassilis Vathrakoyiannis, to the AFP news agency.
It may take several days to bring the fire under control, which broke out in the middle of the peak season.
Around 30,000 people, both tourists and locals, have been evacuated from several areas on the island, according to information from Saturday reported by AFP. Over 2,000 people had to be rescued from beaches with the help of boats.
Tui cancels all flights from all over Europe to the island of Rhodes in Greece, reports Aftonbladet.
– It is not because of any advice or the like, but because we need to get the hotel rooms on site on the island available, says Adam Gyö, press officer at Tui, to the newspaper.
Continues to fly to Rhodes
Apollo and Ving are also canceling flights to the most affected area on Rhodes during Sunday. There are 60 travelers who are affected by the message from Apollo and about 40 Ving travelers.
But several flights from the travel companies depart as planned and 1,315 Swedes are flown down to the chaos on Rhodes.
– As long as there is no advice or local authorities urge us not to fly down travelers, we will trust it and continue to fly down tourists, says Anna Hagberg, press officer at Ving to TV4 Nyheterna.
But according to Anna Hagberg, the travel company does not rule out more trips being canceled in the future.
– We are in contact with local authorities and will hopefully get an idea of the extent of the fire this morning. We follow their directives, but to the affected areas in particular, I find it difficult to see that you can send travelers down within the next few days, she says.
Martina Kranz, press officer at Apollo, points out that they continue to fly as it is possible to travel to the areas of the island that are not affected.
– We take it day by day and follow the situation, says Martina Kranz in Nyhetsmorgon.
“Urgent crisis calls”
Travel expert Lottie Knutson says that it is mainly the stress from travelers that puts pressure on the travel companies.
– Now all the major tour operators are sitting in emergency crisis meetings. First you take the most urgent departures and now you are in a position where you look a few days ahead, she tells TV4 Nyheterna and continues:
– The big charter companies are serious in Sweden, so they wouldn’t go there without everything being checked. I wouldn’t worry about that. In Greece, preparedness is in place and directives are followed.
She believes that a large part of crisis management revolves around customers’ concerns.
– It is rather that it becomes psychological. That travelers get a lot of stress when they have invested everything in the vacation that was supposed to be a highlight of the year. There is an enormous amount of concern and emotion around a matter like this, which puts pressure on the companies that are working and toiling.
So far, no injuries to people have been reported, according to authorities BBC.
Greece’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has activated its crisis management unit to facilitate the evacuation of foreign nationals, writes AFP.