Sunseeking Brits have told of their horror after they were rescued from the fire-ravaged island of Rhodes.
Evacuation flights landed at Gatwick Airport on Monday with hundreds onboard after parts of the popular Greek island were taken over by flames. Tourists have been fleeing Rhodes as wildfires have been spreading in the last week and resorts have been forced to shut.
The repatriation flights are set to continue this afternoon, with as many as 10,000 Britons estimated to be on the island - and some 30,000 planning to visit Rhodes in the next few weeks.
Dominic Doggett, 30, and his fiancee Hannah Dolman, 28, had to stay on the floor of an office in a hotel after a wedding party came to an “abrupt end” due to the wildfires on Sunday.
He said: "Mid-afternoon at the wedding we got a notification that said some areas were being evacuated.
“With it being a wedding we tried to keep the bride and groom unaware and stay as happy as possible.
“Later in the evening, we got a further notification on our phones from the alert system to say our area was also being evacuated.
“The music cut and the lights came on and the staff said we needed to leave.
“The wedding was due to finish at 2am but it finished three hours early.”
The couple landed at Gatwick Airport onboard an easyJet flight at around 3.45pm on Monday.
Transport Secretary Mark Harper said he had spoken with airline companies and welcomed the additional flights put on to repatriate holidaymakers.
Martin Bowrey, 55, Victoria Bowrey, 51, and Hayden Bowrey, 19, left their villa in Lindos after getting an alert on their phones and slept on “slabs” in a primary school courtyard as ash fell on furniture at their villa.
After they were told of the evacuation order, they drove around 40 minutes to the school. Martin said: "We had ash falling onto our furniture outside our pool and after a few hours the smoke was getting thicker and thicker. We couldn’t see flames at that stage."
Victoria added: "Some people were sleeping in school rooms. It was hot so I said to our family ‘We’ll go out to the courtyard’.
“There were loads of people just laid out on the floor so we found a few slabs each and settled down as best we could."
The wildfires are not just affecting the island of Rhodes, however. Sisters Adele, 24, Elise, 21, and Beatrice White, 17, from Surrey, flew from Corfu to Gatwick after witnessing wildfires on the holiday island.
Adele said: "At half 10 we got a notification that said ‘Please evacuate and head to the beach’.
“We were like ‘Oh it should be fine, it should be fine’ but the sky behind the villa was getting more and more bright orange.”
She added: “I felt really sad for local people. Right when we were driving out, the mountain was honestly in flames and people are just having their lives burned down. We’ve got the easy way out.”
Elise added: “You could taste it when you were walking around. It tasted smoky.”
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