Family stuck in Rhodes wildfires ask why TUI flew them in late last night
A councillor on holiday in Rhodes with her family has demanded answers after claiming Tui flew them out as the wildfire was raging.
Jess Bailey, a Devon councillor, is currently on the fire-ravaged Greek island with her husband and two daughters, aged 11 and 15, after flying out from Bristol Airport on Saturday evening - nearly 24 hours after the forest fire reached the resorts of Kiotari and Lardos.
The four landed in Rhodes at around 10pm to find the airport in "chaos" as evacuated holidaymakers gathered there in the hopes of emergency flights home.
Tourists stuck in the mayhem have already told The Mirror of being forced to flee their hotels, leaving luggage behind and in some instances even having no money or passports.
"There was chaos at Rhodes AIrport last night," said Cllr Bailey, an independent for the county's Otter Valley ward.
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Around 19,000 people have now been evacuatedShe told Devon Live: "After a lot of hanging around we were brought to the evacuation centre. There were loads of other Tui flights all arriving around the same time from Luton, Manchester, East Midlands and Glasgow.
"Why did TUI fly us and hundreds of other people in when hotels are cut off by wildfires? We spent the night with hundreds/ thousands of Brits in Rhodes evacuation centre and I didn't sleep a wink.
"We have had totally useless communication from TUI. They emailed at 4.30am saying, 'you may be experiencing some delays at the airport', and that I can source my own transport to our hotel."
Cllr Bailey added: "How can I do that when the road is closed due to fires and like hundreds of others I'm at an evacuation centre? There are still masses of people in the evacuation centres at the Rhodes Basketball Arena and School.
"No one knows what's going on and the TUI reps who turned up an hour ago didn't have a clue either. People are just sitting around on blow-up mattresses on the floor and generally milling around without any idea of what is happening.
Jess Bailey and her family have been taken to an evacuation centre in Rhodes (Jess Bailey)
Efforts are still underway to bring the blaze under control (NCJ Media/Joanna Hughes)"Thank goodness for the local volunteers who have been incredibly helpful. But there's no getting away from the fact it's chaos and TUI should never have flown us into this mess. They have been appalling."
Since the Bailey family's flight, Tui has cancelled all outbound flights to Rhodes until Tuesday as people await further clarification on the fire.
A spokesperson for the holiday company said: "We’re continuing to closely monitor the wildfires in Rhodes which have led to the evacuation of a number of hotels in the south of the island.
"We appreciate how distressing and difficult it is for customers who have been evacuated and ask they follow the advice of the local authorities who are managing tourist movements in impacted areas.
Jess and her family were taken to a basketball stadium being used as an evacuation centre (Jess Bailey)"Our resort teams are doing everything they can to support customers, working closely with the relevant authorities. We have cancelled all outbound flights to Rhodes up to and including Tuesday, and passengers due to travel on Wednesday will be offered a fee free amend to another holiday.
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"Those customers currently in Rhodes will return on their intended flight home. The safety and well-being of our customers and teams remains our top priority."
Other airlines have been working to escort people to safe places and the airport in hopes of getting them home.
Easyjet announced on Sunday it would be arranging two repatriation flights for Brits on the island. Jet2 meanwhile told The Mirror it was cancelling all outbound Rhodes flights until Sunday, July 30.
The UK Foreign Office said a Rapid Deployment Team (RDT) had also arrived on the Greek island to help with evacuations.
A small fire extinguishing plane douses flames in Kiotari, Rhodes (Intime News/Athena Pictures)Some 19,000 people in total are thought to have been evacuated from parts of the island hit by fire and smoke after the blaze, which has been burning since Tuesday, reached the resorts of Kiotari and Lardos.
Greek police have said they are probing the cause of the fire, following indications it may have been started deliberately.
A Foreign Office spokesperson said: "We are actively monitoring the fires in Rhodes and are in close contact with local authorities.
"The FCDO has deployed a Rapid Deployment Team (RDT) of five FCDO staff and four British Red Cross responders to Rhodes to support British Nationals, whose safety is our top priority.
"They will be based at Rhodes International Airport to assist with travel documents and liaise with Greek authorities and travel operators on the ground.
"British nationals in Rhodes should contact their travel operator in the first instance for any queries regarding the rescheduling of flights and continue to check our updated gov.uk travel advice for information."
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