Greece wildfires LIVE: Hundreds arrive in the UK after terrifying Rhodes and Corfu fires force holidaymakers to evacuate

Follow MailOnline’s live coverage as British holidaymakers continue to return to the UK from Rhodes after parts of the popular Greek island went up in flames – forcing many to sleep in schools, airports and sports centres. 

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Reuters photographer Nicolas Economou has taken an extraordinary set of photographs showing the devastation left by the wildfires on Rhodes:

Tourists planning trips to the Mediterranean should see the Greek wildfires as a ‘big, big warning’, with climate change set to fuel more severe blazes in future, one of the UK’s leading climate scientists has said.

Sir David King, former UK chief scientific adviser and chairman of the Climate Crisis Advisory Group, said many people will die from heat stress because of the relentless heatwaves over southern Europe, where millions of Britons travel on holiday each year.

Speaking to the PA news agency from another Greek island, Sir David warned tourists to take care in the heat, adding that he has ‘no doubt’ that the extreme temperatures are due to melting ice in the Arctic caused by greenhouse gases emitted by people heating the Earth’s atmosphere.

He said: ‘If you are in one of these very warm areas and you haven’t got air conditioning indoors you could suffer terribly – many people will die from heat stress.

‘You must have moving air – it makes an enormous difference. If there’s a large fan, preferentially a roof fan, that is moving the air in the room… because moving the air helps to remove the perspiration from your body and keeps you cooler.

‘I wouldn’t be too dogmatic about advice but, certainly, there’s a big, big warning this summer. To anyone planning to go overseas for the summer, ‘Be very careful’ would be my advice.’

MARK PALMER: Blame game is underway over UK’s response to Rhodes wildfires

The Daily Mail’s travel editor Mark Palmer has been writing about how the British Government and travel companies that are feeling the heat over their response to the crisis.

Read his article in full here:

British families who escaped Rhodes describe three days without cold water or air con

Terrified British families who have escaped the fire-ravaged island of Rhodes have described the scenes of panic and chaos during their desperate evacuations.

Exhausted holidaymakers who have arrived back at London Gatwick have revealed their survival tales and how they endured a gruelling few days without cold water or air conditioning as the Greek island became scorched by vicious flames in what was described as a ‘Biblical catastrophe’ by a hotel manager.

Read the full story on MailOnline:

My family is due to fly to Rhodes for a holiday this week – can I cancel?

With thousands of tourists being evacuated from the Greek island of Rhodes as wildfires spread across the island and across to the popular holiday destination of Corfu, many are worried about where they stand if their planned holidays are cancelled.

Here, consumer rights lawyer Dean Dunham explains where you stand if your upcoming trip to the island is cancelled:

People have not been discouraged by the Government from going to Rhodes – a decision which Downing Street has defended.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘Our advice is focused on the safety of British nationals and enabling people to make an informed decision about the situation on the ground.

‘The current situation is impacting on a limited area in Rhodes and while it’s right to keep it under review and it’s possible that the advice may change, we do not want to act out of proportion to the situation on the ground.’

A Foreign Office spokesman confirmed a team has arrived on Rhodes to support travel operators in bringing Britons home.

A newlywed couple spending their honeymoon on Rhodes spoke of their ‘traumatic’ experience of being evacuated from their hotel amid ‘intense’ smoke and the sound of a child screaming ‘I don’t want to die’.

Claire and Paul Jones, both 36, from Leicestershire, were spending their honeymoon on Rhodes after getting married on July 16 and were evacuated on Saturday by coach from the Village Rhodes Beach Resort near Lardos.

Mrs Jones told the PA news agency: ‘It was really quite traumatic driving to where we went because you could see everyone fleeing their hotels, and people were walking along the beaches, walking along the roads, and they had babies and small children.’

She said she and her husband were ‘very lucky’ as they have now managed to take a taxi to Faliraki in the north of the island, where they had planned to stay later in their trip.

Housing Secretary Michael Gove said today that he plans to holiday on a Greek island as he insisted the region is safe for holidaymakers despite fire concerns.

He denied to Times Radio that the Foreign Office has taken too relaxed an approach by not issuing advice not to go.

‘In fact I’m due to go on holiday, God willing, to Greece in just over a week’s time, not to Rhodes but to another island and I’m looking forward to going,’ he added.

‘Greece is a wonderful country, a wonderful place to holiday and we do need to support the Greek government in dealing with the situation in Rhodes. My heart goes out to those who are affected but the advice is clear, if you follow the Foreign Office advice it is safe.’

He told Sky News the island he was going to is Evia.

Flights rescuing British holidaymakers in Rhodes have begun arriving in the UK, as wildfires ravage parts of the Greek island. Some people have complained about a lack of information from travel companies on how the incident will affect them. How have different firms responded to the emergency?

– Jet2

Jet2 announced it would operate four repatriation flights from Rhodes to bring holidaymakers back to the UK. They took hundreds of people to Manchester, Leeds Bradford and Birmingham yesterday evening. It comes after a flight carrying 95 passengers landed at Leeds Bradford on Sunday evening.

The company has ‘significantly increased’ staff numbers on the island and was running transfer coaches to take customers to the airport from evacuation centres yesterday. It has cancelled all flights and holidays due to fly to Rhodes up to and including Sunday and has contacted customers about refund and rebooking options, claiming the company will process a refund ‘quickly’ if a customer requests one.

– Tui

A fourth repatriation flight is under way, with another scheduled for this morning, after the arrival of three flights in the UK overnight. Tui said it had cancelled all flights to Rhodes up to and including Friday as well as all flights for customers travelling to impacted hotels up to and including Sunday, with passengers receiving full refunds. Those due to travel to unaffected areas on Saturday and Sunday can change to another holiday free of charge or cancel for a full refund. The company said it is still operating empty outbound flights to bring customers on holiday elsewhere in Rhodes home ‘as planned’. The firm previously said more than 300 members of staff were on the affected part of the island, and urged customers to keep in touch.

– easyJet

easyJet announced it would operate repatriation flights to bring home British holidaymakers trapped on Rhodes. Two rescue flights, an A320 and an A321 aircraft totalling 421 additional seats, flew from Gatwick yesterday, and a third flight will operate today. Nine flights already operating between Rhodes and the UK will also continue alongside them. Flights are still operating for customers booked to travel to or from Rhodes before July 29, but if they would like to change their plans, customers can change the date of their flight or request a flight voucher.

– Thomas Cook

Thomas Cook is contacting customers due to travel to hotels in Lardos and Kiotari – the areas most at risk – up to and including Monday, July 31 with offers of full refunds or the choice to amend their holidays. The same options will be given to customers travelling to other parts of Rhodes on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week. The company will contact all customers travelling to Rhodes in coming weeks in order of departure date. Those due to depart on Thursday will hear from Thomas Cook by no later than 6am the day before to ‘discuss your options’.

– British Airways

British Airways said it was still operating flights to Rhodes as normal. However, customers currently on the island needing to come home early can change their return flight free of charge, and anyone travelling out from the UK in the next week can postpone their flight to a later date. The firm has put a larger aircraft on the next flight from the island to accommodate customers who need to return earlier than planned.

Holiday operator Tui has released this list of all the hotels in south-eastern Rhodes affected by the blazes:

Kiotari
Absolute Kiotari Resort
Boutique 5 Hotel & Spa
Gonos Villa
Labranda Kiotari Miraluna
Lindian Village
Lindos Imperial Resort & Spa
Mayia Exclusive Resort & Spa
Mitsis Hotel Rodos Village
Mitsis Rodos Maris Resort and Spa
Princess Andriana Resort & Spa
Princess Sun Hotel
Rodos Princess Beach Hotel

Gennadin
Tui Blue Sensatori
Ambelia Hotel
Gennadi Grand

Plimiri
Magic Life
Atrium Prestige

Lardos
Amaryllis Hotel Lardos
Lindos Princess
Cosmos Maris

Lindos
AquaGrand of Lindos
Eleni Studios
Rafael Studios
Lindos View
Mitsis Lindos Memories Hotel

Pefkoi
Amfitriti Hotel and Studios
Evi Studios
Finas Hotel and Apartments
Hotel Ziakis
Island Blue Hotel
Lindia Thalassa Resort
Pefki Islands
Pefkos Village Resort
Stella
White Olive Premium Lindos

Vlicha
Lindos Blu
Lindos Grand Resort & Spa
Lindos Mare
Lindos Royal
Lindos Village Resort & Spa
Lindos White Hotel & Suites
Tui Blue Lindos Bay

Holiday chaos as easyJet pilot tells tourists to get OFF flight to Rhodes

Let’s start with a look at MailOnline’s top story on Rhodes this morning.

An easyJet pilot taking British holidaymakers to the island is said to have told passengers it was a ‘terrible idea’ to go there while wildfires rage, leading to some getting off the plane just before take off from Gatwick.

An estimated 10,000 Brits are on Rhodes with 30,000 due there over the coming weeks as huge numbers of exhausted holidaymakers arrived back and slammed the ‘chaotic’ evacuation.

Click below to read the full story:

Good morning and welcome to MailOnline’s liveblog on the situation in Rhodes.

More British holidaymakers are due to return to the UK today from the fire-ravaged Greek island as repatriation flights continue.

Hundreds of people have already landed at UK airports after parts of the destination went up in flames, forcing many to sleep in schools, airports and sports centres.

Stay with us throughout today for live updates and more information.