Rhodes fires: 'The sky looked like it was on fire'

Rachel and Adam say they feel lucky to have escaped

Two Londoners who escaped the wildfires on Rhodes have told the BBC the sky on the Greek island "looked like it was on fire".

Rachel and Adam arrived on the island on 17 July and were initially told not to worry about the blaze.

The couple said they then had to rely on family and friends to help them plan an escape route as they had no contact from their travel agent, Jet2.

A Jet2 spokesperson said its "focus is on looking after our customers".

It added that it had a "significantly expanded presence in Rhodes, with a huge team of experienced colleagues providing all the support we can for our customers, whether that is in affected areas or at Rhodes Airport".

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Rachel, who did not want to give her surname, told the BBC: "We arrived in Rhodes last Monday and knew about the forest fires as soon as we got there as we could see smoke in the distance from our resort.

"We were told not to worry and that we were safe as the wind was blowing in the other direction.

"On Saturday the wind changed and we started seeing thick black smoke move towards us, we could smell sulphur in the air and the sky looked like it was on fire."

Wind coupled with very dry conditions and high temperatures meant wildfires spread across the island

It was at that point the couple managed to get on to a coach which took them to a hotel on a different part of the island, which they found filled with "thousands of people lying on the lobby floor who had lost everything".

The couple said they tried to contact Jet2, but they were "nowhere to be found" and large numbers of people in the hotel were left "with no idea what was going on".

Thanks to friends and family in the UK who planned an escape route, Rachel and Adam were able to board a ferry from Rhodes town to another Greek Island, Kos, before boarding a flight home from there.

They said they were surprised to find that the ferries leaving Rhodes were "completely empty".

Many tourists have been sleeping at the airport, makeshift rescue centres and on the street after the flames threatened holiday resorts.

Tourists have sheltered in stadiums and schools after being evacuated from the path of wildfires

Their advice to other holidaymakers is to "not go to the airport but instead get on any of the almost empty ferries that depart every few hours from Rhodes town port".

While the pair are grateful to have gotten out of the country they said they could not understand why Jet2 was not recommending this passage to tourists.

"The experts don't seem to be able to work this out. All we've had is a phone call 24 hours after we made our escape from the travel agents," the couple said.

A spokesperson for Jet2 said it had "put on four repatriation flights to bring our customers home, which is on top of our scheduled programme of flights that will continue to operate from Rhodes to the UK this week.

"We are continuing to make decisions in the best interests of our customers, and we are keeping everything under constant review," they added.

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