Rhodes inferno must be wake-up call on global warming, says minister

EVENING STANDARD 

Evacuation flights were “bringing back” Britons escaping the wildfire in Rhodes as a minister warned on Monday that the disaster must be a “wake-up call” on global warming.

Between 7,000 to 10,000 British citizens were believed to be on the Greek island hit by “toxic heat,” with fires blighting 10 to 20 per cent of it.

Some of them told of their fears as flames swept through swathes of the popular tourist destination, sparking chaos and a desperate race to safety.

The wildfire had been confined to the mountainous centre but, aided by winds, very high temperatures and dry conditions, it swept towards the coast on the central-eastern side.

It forced the evacuation of 19,000 people over the weekend as the inferno reached coastal resorts on the island’s south-eastern coast. “It was quite a bit of a struggle on the beach with the smoke,” said John Hope, a tourist from Manchester. Dan Jones, a sports teacher from Torquay, had to climb on to a fishing trawler with his sons on Saturday night, describing it as “the scariest moment” in his life.

Nursery worker Vicky Morris, 34, from Cheltenham, told The Sun her four-year-old daughter Cassie Bell had asked: “Are we going to die, Mummy?”

Rhodes deputy mayor Konstantinos Taraslias told state broadcaster ERT this morning: “We are in the seventh day of the fire and it hasn’t been controlled.” 

Foreign Office minister Andrew Mitchell stopped short of saying all British holidaymakers should get off the island. But he told Times Radio: “What we are telling people to do is keep in touch with their tourist company. That is the right advice. Aircraft, which were going to be full, are flying there empty and are bringing people back.”

Travel firm TUI on Monday said holidaymakers had returned to the UK from Rhodes on three flights. It added 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.”

Airline easyJet was operating two rescue flights totalling 421 seats on Monday and a third on Tuesday, in addition to its nine scheduled flights to the island.

Greek tourism minister Olga Kefalogianni insisted that only part of the island was affected by the blazes, 10 to 20 per cent of it. “Indeed it is the largest evacuation Greecehas ever done and it happened in a matter of hours, but everyone is safe,” she said. Mr Mitchell stated that the crisis was “undoubtedly a wake-up call” on climate change.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We had, just a couple of weeks ago, the hottest day, on Monday, that the world has ever experienced. Those temperatures were then exceeded on the Wednesday for a second weekly record. And then on Thursday the third record in one week. The highest temperatures the planet has ever seen. Climate change is real. It is now. And it is essential that the world combats it…