Rhodes Wildfires: Help Desk at Airport Opens for Tourists

Aerial view of Rhodes International Airport. Photo source: Intrakat

While a wildfire is still burning in three active fronts on the island of Rhodes, the Greek Foreign Ministry announced that it will open a Help Desk at the island’s airport to assist visitors return to their countries.

Set to open at Rhodes International Airport after 5pm today, in cooperation with embassies in Greece, the Help Desk will facilitate and coordinate the timely departure of visitors who have lost their travel documents, the ministry said on Sunday.

The Help Desk is located in Terminal 1 and headed by Embassy Counselor Katerina Tzima.

Foreign nationals who wish to contact the Help Desk can call the following numbers: +30 6985889650  /  6983209611.

In case of a special emergency, travelers can use the following phone number/WhatsApp to contact the Help Desk: +306977960941.

Photo source: Ministry for Climate Crisis and Civil Protection

The announcement of the Help Desk comes after the ministry activated its Crisis Management Unit to facilitate the evacuation of foreign citizens in Greece due to the ongoing forest fires.

It is reminded that foreign citizens in need of assistance should contact the Crisis Management Unit at (+30) 2103681730, 2103681259, 2103681350. Also, Greek and foreign citizens in danger are asked to contact civil protection directly the Civil Protection Agency at  +30 2131331200.

Rhodes has been battling wildfires fanned by strong winds for the sixth day.

Evacuations on the island began on Saturday and, according to reports, turned into the  largest evacuation operation ever in Greece.

A number of villages were evacuated for preventative reasons including Kiotari, Gennadi, Pylonas, Laerma, Lardos, Lindos, Kalathos, Malona, Asklipio, Pevkos, Massair and Charaki.

Three hotels in the area of Kiotari on the island’s southeastern coast were evacuated and tourists were transferred by buses to safety.

According to the Athens News Agency, nearly 19,000 people have been evacuated preventatively, of whom 16,000 were transported by land and 3,000 by sea.

Hellenic Chamber of Hotels members are offering accommodation to people displaced from the forest fires. Citizens are advised to contact the General Secretariat of Civil Protection on 2131510903 and 2131510953 between 8am and midnight.

Jet2 and TUI cancel flights to Rhodes

While the fire on Rhodes rages on, tour operators Jet2 and TUI cancelled all flights from the UK to the island.

Jet2 cancelled five flights to Rhodes, while TUI cancelled all flights there until Wednesday.

In a statement, Jet2 said the five aircraft will fly to Rhodes with no customers onboard so that customers can travelback to the UK on their scheduled flight.”

“We have cancelled all flights and holidays that are due to depart to Rhodes today (five flights in total). We will be contacting affected customers to update them, and to let them know that they will be provided with a full refund and the opportunity to rebook,” Jet2 said.

Meanwhile, TUI canceled all flights and booked holidays to Rhodes for the next few days.

TUI said in a statement: “The situation in the Southern part of Rhodes remains volatile and challenging… Due to this and considering the impact on local communities being affected, TUI has decided to cancel all flights and booked holidays to Rhodes for departures up to and incl. Tue, 25 July.”

The UK Foreign Office updated its travel advice on Sunday advising people planning to travel to Rhodes to first check with their travel operator or hotel to ascertain that the area they plan to visit is not impacted by the current wildfires.

Photo source: Greek Ministry for Climate Crisis and Civil Protection

According to the latest official update of the Greek fire department regarding the fire on Rhodes, 10 aircraft and eight helicopters are in the air and are working consecutively since this morning.

The ground forces operating at the fronts are 266 firefighters, 49 firefighting water vehicles and hundreds of volunteers.

International reinforcements include 31 Slovak firefighters with four water vehicles while two French aircraft, two Turkish and one Croatian are operating from the air.