'We fled Rhodes fires - crowds were out of control and we slept on hotel floor'
A family watched in horror as 'fireballs' approached their hotel and fleeing tourists fell into the sea in a bid to get to safety amid the ferocious Greek wildfires.
Adrian Jordan, his wife and daughter, 4, were among the thousands of people who fled for their lives over the weekend as flames raced across the island of Rhodes.
After the population of their first hotel swelled five times to 5,000 people as it was declared a shelter, they were forced to run onto the beach as the approaching wall of smoke neared and guests were evacuated.
They watch terrified tourists jostling for space on rescue craft fall into the sea and fight each other for a precious space aboard a coach.
Adrian Jordan and his daughter slept on the floor of a hotel (Adrian Jordan)
Many families have spoken of fleeing the flames on Sunday and Monday (Aleshia Jones)Adrian, who managed to secure his family a route home with Air France on Monday afternoon, is furious with TUI for what he sees as a lack of support while lavishing gratitude on locals for so generously helping them through the crisis.
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"We had no food, no water, no alternate accommodation, no way home - unless it was at my expense or the generosity of true kindness of people in Rhodes," he told The Mirror.
"I was able to pay a significant expense to grab the final few tickets to get my family out via Air France. Others are still stuck, the same conditions, others worse conditions. Reliant only on strangers to provide essentials."
The plume of smoke came closer and closer to their hotel (Adrian Jordan)He branded TUI a "disgrace" adding: "Seeing your daughter huddled on the floor with no access to water or food should never happen, especially under the security of a well established company that has charged you thousands of pounds for the privilege. They have failed to provide any service, support or care to thousands."
When the family first arrived in Rhodes on July 19 they spotted a small fire on the coach to the Sensatori Atlantica Dreams hotel in Gennadi, only to be told it was localised and under control.
The flames threatened to engulf their hotel (Adrian Jordan)Two days later they spied a cloud of smoke from their hotel, where an employee assured them there was nothing to worry about.
By the following day the plume had turned from light grey to dark. When the Jordan family returned from a day outing to the Sensatori they discovered it rammed with thousands of people from three other hotels which had been burned to the ground.
With the smoke becoming thicker and the sky a more fearsome orange, the call to evacuate went up on Saturday evening, prompting guests to run from their rooms into reception and onto the pitch black beach.
The family ending up seeking sanctuary in a school (Adrian Jordan)"Thankfully by this time two members of the coast guard arrived and guided us to the beach as there was no light," Adrian continued.
"On the shoreline boats were trying to get people on board but it was out of control. People tried to climb on board civilian boats but were falling off into the sea, all the while what can only be described as small fireballs could now be seen getting closer to the hotels."
Three hours of sheltering on the beach later the family made it onto an evacuation coach which took them south to the Atrium Prestige hotel, only to find "out of control scenes".
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"(There were) thousands of people and the team there weren’t able to cope. No sign of TUI. Their reps had gone," Adrian continued.
Small planes spray water over the fire on Rhodes (AFP via Getty Images)"The hotel said sleep on the floors. I managed to take one seat from the beach restaurant for my wife to sit while my daughter and I lay on the floor. TUI were silent, non-contactable and the hotel was waiting."
Come the morning the family - having initially been told food was for paying customers only - secured a plate of food and a few bottles of water after a lengthy queue.
When a single TUI coach arrived to ship customers on somewhere else that afternoon, fights broke out among those trying to get onboard, Adrian said.
The fires have now been ranging for days (AFP via Getty Images)Later that evening the family found their way to a primary school that had been turned into a refuge, providing guests with food and a place to wash.
Adrian said it had been opened by the local people who had cooked food, brought blankets from their homes and provided water and juice.
His family were among the lucky ones who made it onto flights home on Monday as the majority of those who had been staying on the island attempted to leave.
Wildfires on the Greek island of Rhodes meant 19,000 people had to be removed from villages and hotels over the past few days.
The Rhodes fire service has warned more fires could break out, with temperatures set to reach 45C and winds fanning and spreading the flames.
Footage taken by the Mirror from the top of a hill showed the clouds of smoke grow darker and more ominous on Monday afternoon despite efforts to extinguish the flames.
Fire fighting planes could be seen working throughout the afternoon by scooping up water from the sea, flying into the heart of the plume and attempting to douse the fire.
Up to 10,000 Britons are estimated to be on fire-ravaged Rhodes, with repatriation flights to rescue holidaymakers landing back in the UK.
Firefighter fight to quell the flames between the villages of Kiotari and Gennadi on Rhodes (AFP via Getty Images)People have told of being forced to sleep with hundreds of others in schools, airports and sports centres across the popular Greek island.
TUI confirmed that holidaymakers returned to the UK on "three dedicated flights" overnight, with plans to bring more back "as soon as possible" in place.
A spokesperson for TUI said: "Our teams in Rhodes have been working tirelessly to support customers impacted by the wildfires in south-eastern parts of the island and three dedicated flights brought our first customers safely back to the UK overnight. We have reps in all evacuation centres and we’re aiming to get more people home from the affected areas as soon as we can.
"We appreciate how distressing and difficult it’s been for those who have been evacuated and ask that they continue to follow the advice of the local authorities and keep in touch with our teams.
"We have cancelled all outbound flights to Rhodes up to and including Friday 28th July, and have also cancelled all outbound flights for customers travelling to impacted hotels up to and including on Sunday 30th July.
"All customers due to travel on these flights will receive full refunds.
"Passengers due to travel to areas not affected by fires on Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th July will be offered a fee free amend to another holiday or the option to cancel for a full refund. We are still operating empty outbound flights to bring those customers currently on holiday elsewhere in Rhodes home as planned and working to get those in affected areas as soon as possible.
"The safety and well-being of our customers and teams remains our top priority."
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