Horrified boat captain arrives at Rhodes to find thousands of crying tourists
Boat captains on Rhodes who saved British tourists from the flames have been praised as "true heroes" for showing a “Dunkirk spirit”.
Around 30 boats - from tugs to speedboats and traditional wooden ‘gullet’ sailing boats - were called in to help evacuate hundreds of stricken Brits by the port authority.
During the biggest evacuation in Greek history, they helped rescue thousands of stranded Brits trapped on beaches in fire-ravaged parts of the popular Greek island. Locals and tourists said lives could have been lost if they hadn't acted so swiftly.
Sadly as repatriation flights continue, thousands more Brits face their summer holidays being cancelled. As many as 10,000 Britons are estimated to be on the island, the Foreign Office said, with 30,000 due to head there in the next few weeks, according to reports.
Blaze horror in Rhodes (Phil Harris)But holiday operators continue to cancel flights and holidays as Greece is gripped by wildfires, meaning thousands more could be at risk of having their hols scrapped. One pilot reportedly warned 37 passengers on a 180-capacity plane heading to Rhodes from Gatwick that it was a "bad idea" to travel to the island.
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But locals on Rhodes are urging Brits not to cancel, saying 90 per cent of the island is “untouched” and vowed to look after every tourist. Thousands of residents are helping battle the flames engulfing part of the island, using handmade water pumps taken from pools and shovels.
One of those “heroes” helping tackle the fires was also involved in the evacuation. Mixalis Tsakiris, 28, whose mum is from Norwich, runs Gabriel’s watersports centre in the far north of the Rhodes with his father.
They were contacted by the port authority at the weekend to help evacuate people with their two boats. His water sports centre is based on the beach in Rhodes City, in the north of the island.
People fleeing for their lives (Phil Harris)“It took us an hour and when we got there we could see hundreds of people on the beach," he told the Mirror.
“We were smaller so we were ferrying 20 people at a time to the bigger boats who couldn’t reach the beach. Everyone was lost, it was shocking. There was a lot of dark smoke behind them. They were trapped with nowhere to go, they couldn’t go back. It was very dangerous.
“It’s something you can’t ever imagine, the hard part was seeing the people with the luggage and kids in panic, the families. They were crying. We told them everything was okay and we would take them to a safe place now. We ferried hundreds of people and we were one of the last there.
“I totally agree that it was like a true Dunkirk spirit. Everyone showed a strong and united front. It gives me goosebumps. But we care for the tourists who come here. If you come here we will always take care of you.
“It was a disaster but the good thing is no one got hurt and that’s down to the people on Rhodes because the Government is small and not very quick.”
The Mirror's Lucy Thornton in Greece (Phil Harris)The boat crews had to try and calm desperate tourists down as they struggled to get on board. A British mum said a woman in her 60s tried to push her off a ladder to a rescue boat - as her one-year-old son was strapped to her chest as they fled the terrifying fires in Rhodes.
Amy Walker was at the start of a £3,500 five-star break on the Greek island with her mother and two children who are aged ten and one. She said they were told to evacuate their hotel and had to dump their luggage as they walked in the pitch black to a beach.
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"A woman in her 60s tried to push me off the ladder to the Navy boat. I had a baby on a carriage strapped to me. She wanted to get on that ladder herself. She was doing anything to get on it and save herself. It was frantic, people were panicking and in fear."
Amy and her family, from Dawlish, Devon, were later taken in by a Greek family after the Navy Rib took them to a ferry which sailed them to the north of the island. Amy - whose partner stayed at home in Devon - said: "The Greek people are doing all the work. They are selflessly helping us...They are just outstanding."
Chrysanthi Podia has come over from mainland Greece to help fight the fires (Phil Harris)A couple from London also saw the pushing and shoving as tourists tried to get on the rescue boats. They watched ten boats arrive and leave full, unable to get aboard. They ended up walking more than 7km in 40C - eventually, after 12 hours, they escaped by bus.
Mum of two Laura Craft, 52, a marketing boss from London and her husband Jeff, 55, had been staying at the Boutique 5 Hotel in Kiotari when they received an alert on their phone. They were evacuated to the beach but then “marched with thousands of people ''.
Laura said: “The people on Rhodes were truly heroic, without the help of the locals I’m sure people would have died. They were bringing us sandwiches and water. They were really caring and couldn’t do more for us. The Red Cross were there and were fantastic, calming people down, they were the only visible authority”.
Laura told how she was concerned after Jeff had seven alerts for an abnormal heartbeat from his Garmin watch, at one point reaching 143 bpm.
The remains of a water sports centre and beach restaurant in Lardos, Rhodes (Phil Harris)Jeff said: “We were more likely to die from health-related issues and heat exposure than the fire. I was worried about collapsing, my legs were beginning to cramp. It was 12 hours in 40C heat and the body is not designed to cope with that. We were walking in flip-flops with two cases and backpacks. I knew I had to stop in the shade to get myself out of immediate danger.“
Laura added: “We wet a towel and put it over his head. I was just very worried, he’s not a kid, he’s 55 and I knew there was no medical assistance so God forbid something happened. I was scared too because every time you looked behind you the fire was coming towards you and winds were blowing but we had to stop.”
They said buses were turning up for the German and French tourists from their holiday companies but there were none for the UK. They eventually ended up in a Tui hotel and said; “They were brilliant in desperate circumstances."
Laura said they are now carrying on their holiday: “I’ve waited six months for this holiday so we’ve taken a couple more days to decompress from the trauma.”
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