German tourists return from Greek island fire ‘hell’

Author: AFP

German tourist Oxana Neb said she stayed in her hotel until the fires on the Greek island of Rhodes forced her and thousands of visitors like her to flee. “We just ran to the beach with suitcases”, said the 50-year-old who ended up discarding her luggage in the sand. Many tourists have got caught in the middle of the wildfires that have been fanned by winds and scorching temperatures in Greece. “Hell on Earth” is how Lena Schwarz described the situation on Rhodes before her abrupt departure from the Greek island. Schwarz arrived back in Germany along with other tourists on a flight to the northern city of Hanover overnight Sunday into Monday. “We ran 10 kilometres (six miles) with all our luggage to escape the flames”, while the temperature was 42 degrees Celsius (108 degrees Fahrenheit), Schwarz told AFP. Around 30,000 had be evacuated to safety on Rhodes over the weekend as fires raged across the eastern part of the island in the middle of the tourism season. Police said 16,000 people had been transported on land and evacuated 3,000 by sea. Others had to flee by road or used their own transport after being told to leave the area.

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