Several of the fires are out of control. A lot of wind in the area makes extinguishing work difficult, writes CNN Greece. In Kiotari in the southeast of the island, the fire crews have given up trying to save three hotels. The channel writes that the three hotels were given over to the flames shortly after the tourists had been evacuated. Around 2,000 people are said to have been rescued by sea, because the flames make the roads impassable. – If you are in Asklipiio and Kiotari, evacuate now to Gennadi. There are wildfires in your area, said an emergency alert that was sent by SMS on Saturday to residents in four different locations. Both fire planes, fire boats and firefighters from several different countries are involved in the extinguishing work. On Saturday afternoon, Pylona and Genadi should also have been told to evacuate. Tourists are evacuated by boat from a beach on Rhodes. Photo: Argyris Mantikos / AP Foreign Ministry with warning to Norwegians On Saturday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a warning to those who have registered that they are staying in Greece. “There is a high risk of forest fires in Greece due to high temperatures and strong winds. Greece has a mobile phone-based warning system for anyone in the vicinity of forest fires. You are notified through automated messages from 112. Norwegian citizens staying in Greece are encouraged to follow instructions and advice from local authorities.’ The charter companies Tui and Apollo state that they are busy evacuating Norwegians. news has been contacted by several Norwegians who are still waiting to be evacuated. Waited for evacuation for eight hours Sheila-Mari Demic Skauge from Bergen and her family are on holiday in Rhodes with another family. They have been waiting to be evacuated since 1pm on Saturday afternoon. – People are tired and hungry. It has been up to 41 degrees and the air conditioning does not work because the power has gone out, so there is a bit of a crisis atmosphere, she says on the phone to news. Beatriz Rivera, communications manager at Apollo, says that they are working to get the guests evacuated. – We have evacuated most of our guests and there have been several buses at the hotels. Work is now underway at the individual level, says Rivera to news. Sheila-Mari Demic Skauge from Bergen and her family had to wait eight hours to be evacuated. Photo: Privat She says that communication is difficult. – Both electricity, internet and mobile phone coverage come and go. Not all messages get through. Therefore, there are some who have not received information from us, she says. Skauge is not satisfied with the information from the company. – We spoke to several employees at Apollo. No one could tell when we would be evacuated. After eight hours, we have now finally got a seat on a bus, she tells news. Because everything is fully booked, they have been told that they must sleep in the common area of a hotel. The communications manager at Apollo says that it has been challenging to get the buses to some hotels. – There are still some who have not been evacuated, but we have buses on the way, says Rivera. Tourists evacuated Norwegians on Rhodes news has spoken to tellers about a dramatic situation on the Greek island. – When we were swimming down by the lake, a cloud of smoke came over us, and ash fell down, says the tourist Andreas Nybø to news. While news talks to him, he says that they are being evacuated from the hotel. Several residents of the Greek island of Rhodes have received notices to evacuate, as forest fires spread for the sixth day. – It’s a pretty fierce forest fire, it seems like it’s spreading pretty quickly. There has been a lot of air traffic with fire planes and helicopters, explains Nybø. Danger alerts are sent via SMS to both local and foreign mobile phones located in the affected areas. You are notified through automated messages from 112. Large fire crews have been working for several days to extinguish the flames. Photo: Slovak Fire and Rescue Services / Reuters news has been in contact with several people who have received such an alert and seen the alert, including Nybø. He is on the holiday island with his girlfriend and a couple of friends. – Me and my mate were playing billiards in the lounge earlier, and then I hear that people are getting emergency alerts on the phone, like we got in June. – The ladies sat down on the beach, and people just disappeared. Poof, then the beach was empty. Several people on Rhodes have received this emergency warning. Photo: Kristoffer Hagen / Screenshot People VG has spoken to are located in Kiotari and Asklipiio, have been told to evacuate to Gennadi. Apollo is evacuating – The message we are getting is that it is under control, but for security reasons the local authorities have notified that all the hotels in the area that we own are to be evacuated. So that’s what we’re doing now. That’s what communication manager Beatriz Rivera at Apollo says to news. They have eight hotels in the exposed areas of Rhodes. There are more than 200 Norwegians. – What we are doing now is primarily to send out information that there will be an evacuation. In addition, we have heard that the internet and electricity are unstable, so we have also called the hotels directly to say that there will be an evacuation. We will then move all these 200 guests to other hotels in the area that are outside the danger zone, says Rivera. She says the preliminary signals from their employees in Rhodes are that things are going well. – Of course it’s scary when you see smoke and smell fire. The most important thing now is to move the guests so they can breathe and relax and not have to worry about this. Out of control This is the sixth day in a row that the fire crews on the island are fighting forest fires. In the village of Laerma, the residents also received an emergency notification telling them to evacuate. It happened around 10.30pm on Friday evening, according to the newspaper Ekathimerini. This after strong winds had pushed the fire south towards Laerma. A representative of the fire service described the operation on Rhodes as difficult, with various challenges in the northern part of the island. Here, tourists evacuate after forest fires on Rhodes. Photo: Dave Williams / Private Ministry of Foreign Affairs with a clear message On Tuesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also sent out a message about the risk of forest fire to all Norwegians who have registered that they are in Greece. – Norwegian citizens staying in Greece are encouraged to follow instructions and advice from local authorities, says the Foreign Ministry. On Monday, around 450 had reported this to the voluntary service Reiseregistrering.no. 70 forest fires in Greece There are now around 70 forest fires in Greece, where the terrain is very dry after record high temperatures in recent weeks. Greek fire crews receive assistance from fire aircraft and crews from neighboring countries, including from Italy and France, Romania, Bulgaria, Poland and Slovakia.
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