Rhodes fires: Evacuated tourists arrive in Birmingham

Wildfires could be seen from a distance on the Greek island of Corfu

Midlands-based tourists have been returning home from the Greek island of Rhodes as wildfires continue to spread across the island.

More than 30,000 people have fled the flames on the island since the weekend - Greece's largest-ever wildfire evacuation.

Temperatures have reached 45C (113F) with many buildings destroyed.

At Birmingham Airport on Tuesday, holidaymakers said they felt "lucky" to be back home.

Mr Crawley and his family were safely evacuated from their hotel to a car park and then on to a basketball court

Dale Crawley, from Castle Bromwich, who was travelling with his wife, three children and his wife's parents, said: "We were evacuated by the army on Saturday afternoon from our hotel, and moved to a car park for eight hours, then transferred to a basketball court.

"The wind really changed and the fire that was behind a mountain all of a sudden came up and around.

"We were very lucky because there were people on the other side of the mountain where the fires pushed them to the sea."

Tourists sheltered in a stadium after being evacuated following wildfires

Mr Crawley said people had rallied together to provide aid and support displaced tourists.

He said farmers had provided fresh produce and local restaurants had offered free pizza.

When the basketball court, where the Crawley family were staying along with about 200 other families, needed to be cleared, someone offered one of their vacant properties for them to stay in.

"The Greek people, I have never met people like them and I thank them so much because the volunteers were brilliant," Mr Crawley added.

Jayne Dowle told Midlands Today she experienced power cuts and "scary" phone alerts

Jayne Dowle, a journalist from Barnsley, said "apart from regular power cuts and scary phone alerts" her holiday with her daughter Lizzie was largely unaffected by the wildfires.

"I feel a bit guilty that we were okay but many others weren't."

Andrew Granger said he could see huge plumes of smoke from the wildfires as he was evacuated

Andrew Granger was on holiday on the north side of the island.

Like Mr Crawley, he praised the "friendly and welcoming" nature of the people in Rhodes who rushed to help those affected by the fires.

Several parts of Greece and the Mediterranean have been put on high alert because of an extreme risk of fire.