'I was caught up in Rhodes fires - I grabbed my girls and left family behind'

25 July 2023 , 18:56

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'I was caught up in Rhodes fires - I grabbed my girls and left family behind'

A British family have told of their horror holiday in Rhodes after they spotted smoke from wildfires while they were relaxing around the pool. Mum-of-two Jaynina Andrews, 37, was in Lindos, Rhodes, with her family for her brother's wedding on a three-night package holiday with EasyJet.

Jaynina and children Jaydan, 11, and Phoebe, seven, were relaxing by the pool when they began to smell smoke and see thick clouds. Jaynina and her children had to sprint across a beach before being bundled into a boat - without money or passports - after the wildfires struck.

They left the rest of their family behind in the commotion and "feared [they ] had died". After a night on the floor of a sports hall, they finally made it home.

Jaynina Andrews and her two children Jaydan (Jaynina Andrews / SWNS)

Jaynina Andrews and her daughter Phoebe (Jaynina Andrews / SWNS)

The housekeeper from Croydon, south London, said: "Everything seemed fine until hotel staff started shouting for us to 'get out, get out'. We didn't understand the severity at first - then people started running and panicking and my children thought we were going to die.

"All the locals who had boats came to take people to safety - my children and I were bundled into a boat. When we were dropped off at another beach, we were told the beach where we left our family behind had been destroyed by the fire.

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"I thought my whole family was dead - but I had to stay strong for my children. We ended up reunited and it turned out everyone had got out safely - eventually we got home safely. Once we got back, I just sobbed because it hit me that we could have died."

Wildfires decended upon the Lindos Imperial hotel in Rhodes, forcing holidaymakers to flee (Jaynina Andrews / SWNS)

The family sighted a helicopter in the amber glowing sky above Rhodes (Jaynina Andrews / SWNS)

Jaynina and the family flew out to Lindos on July 18 ahead of the wedding the next day. Despite seeing news stories online about the wildfires nearby, they didn't begin to panic until two days after the wedding, when they smelled smoke.

They were supposed to be flying home on July 22, so they were enjoying their last full day by the pool at the Lindos Imperial Hotel. But at lunchtime staff began ushering them out as clouds of smoke blew overhead and the sun appeared "glowing red". Jaynina said: "When we got outside we were told to go to the beach with hundreds of others.

The family sighted a helicopter in the amber glowing sky above Rhodes (Jaynina Andrews / SWNS)

"We had to cover our mouths and noses because of the smoke - our eyes were streaming. At the beach people started shouting to run - everyone was really panicking at this point. We had nothing with us, no money or passports, and I was thinking to myself 'what happens now then?' When someone told me to get into a boat, I just went into pure survival mode."

They didn't even have time to say goodbye to the rest of their family before the boat sped off to safety, dropping them at Lardos Beach some distance away, before returning to collect more people. Jaynina feared the rest of her family were dead when someone announced the beach they left behind had "been destroyed".

The sky in Rhodes looked ominous following wildfires (Jaynina Andrews / SWNS)

Janina's son Jayden and others wait for a boat at the beach after wildfires decended upon the families hotel in Rhosdes (Jaynina Andrews / SWNS)

She said: "My kids were asking what had happened to the family. I was trying to act like I wasn't scared, but I honestly thought I would have no family left at this point."

Several hours later Jaynina and her children were ushered onto a coach and taken to a military facility where they were given food and water. Later, another coach dropped them at a sports hall where they spent the night on the floor. Fortunately, the rest of their family had also been dropped off there and they were all reunited.

Jaynina said: "It was just a massive relief finding them all - there had been a lot of ‘I'm going to be sick’ moments. That night we had to roll up our beach towels to use as pillows. People were almost fighting over mattresses, it was quite scary."

After being booked into an emergency hotel through EasyJet, they spent an extra two days there before a flight could finally take them home. Jaynina arrived back home on July 24 - two days later than planned.

Lindos, Rhodes, before the island was devastated by wildfire (Jaynina Andrews / SWNS)

She credits the local people for helping them during the traumatic time. She said: "I feel heartbroken, they have lost their homes but they were so amazing to us. All hours of the night they were dropping off supplies for us."

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Despite being grateful to get home safely the experience has left Jaynina in a state of anxiety. She said: "My chest hurts and I keep coughing, but the children are ok. I just feel exhausted. The anxiety has kicked in, when we got home yesterday I just burst into tears because I realised we might never have got home. We're safe - but we could have died."

Abigail O'Leary