British tourists flee from 'hell on earth' wildfires in Rhodes

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July 24, 2023 View online 1 /'It was hell on earth': British tourists describe fleeing for their lives from Rhodes wildfire A mother who says she experienced "hell on earth" was among the British tourists forced to flee Rhodes this weekend as fierce wildfires continue to rip through the Greek holiday island.    Officials on the island, which sits southwest of Turkey in the Aegean Sea, launched Greece's biggest-ever evacuation operation as the blaze tore through vast swathes of land, threatening resorts popular with holidaymakers.   Tourists were forced to shelter in schools, sports stadiums, airports and alternative hotels as firefighters desperately fought to contain the flames, which officials fear may worsen on Monday as wind speeds more than double on the island.   As Britons rushed to book seats on packed flights home after the evacuations, holiday firms including Jet2, the UK's biggest tour operator, announced they would be cancelling services to Rhodes and would be sending empty planes to bring stranded tourists home. 2 /Revealed: Britain's council housing shame as majority of councils fail to build a single home Independent investigation comes as more than 1.2 million families languish on waiting list for properties 3 /Sadiq Khan to stand by Ulez after Starmer's stark warning over Uxbridge defeat Mayor of London 'open to ideas' but committed to policy   4 /Tories at war over green policies after Uxbridge by-election shock Michael Gove says don't treat environment as a 'religious crusade' 5 /Oppenheimer's women: the true story of the brilliant, complicated female figures behind the famed physicist In Christopher Nolan's new film about the inventor of the atomic bomb, Florence Pugh is the messy mistress Jean Tatlock, Emily Blunt the alcoholic wife THE BIG QUESTION How did the UK's deadliest whale stranding in decades unfold? It was 8.13am on the morning of her 12th wedding anniversary when Màiri Robertson Carrey was woken by the emergency alert. Two hours further up the coastline, a pod of pilot whales had run aground and was now trapped on a remote beach on the Isle of Lewis – with a desperate race against time underway to save the lives of as many as possible. But despite completing her extensive training as a volunteer marine medic only last September, there was little which could have prepared Ms Carrey for the scenes awaiting her on the rugged golden-white sands of Traigh Mhòr, which last weekend played host to the UK's deadliest mass stranding in decades. No fewer than 55 pilot whales lay strewn across the beach – many of them already dead – when they were discovered on Sunday morning by a fellow volunteer with British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR), who, like Ms Carrey, had only completed her training 10 months ago. For the full article click here  Enjoy a year of unlimited digital access for just £99 £20 ✓ Full access to Premium news analysis ✓ Advert-free reading across web and app ✓ The Independent Daily Edition newspaper ✓ Puzzles, virtual event tickets and more SUBSCRIBE NOW Watch / Tourists evacuated by boat from Rhodes as wildfire rages on Greek island NUMBER OF THE DAY 19,000 – Around 19,000 people in total are reported to have been evacuated from Rhodes, the largest of Greece's Dodecanese islands, which has a local population of about 115,000. Read more QUOTE OF THE DAY "Smoke started coming up against the window of the hotel so we decided to run." – Becky Mulligan, a 29-year-old training manager from Leicester, was staying at the Princess Sun Hotel in the Kiotari resort on Rhodes's southeast coast when she, her five-year-old daughter, and sister, 20, were forced to quickly pack their bags and flee as the sky turned "orange". 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