A wildfire has been raging in the Greek’s island of
Rhodes for five days, forcing hundreds of people to flee affected villages and beaches by land and sea on Saturday, authorities said.
As per reports, over thousands of people, including tourists were evacuated with coastguard vessels and more than 30 private boats evacuated from beaches close to the areas of Kiotari and Lardos in the southeastern part of the island.
Coastguard spokesman Nikos Alexiou told Skai television that an operation was ongoing to evacuate about 600 people from beaches in Kiotari and Gennadi towards Plimmiri.
The fire has scorched swaths of dense forest since breaking out in a mountainous area on Tuesday. It damaged at least three hotels in the seaside village of Kiotari on Saturday.
Civil protection authorities have warned of a very high risk of wildfires on Rhodes and many other areas in Greece on Sunday, as temperatures were expected to hit 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) amid a heatwave.