A FAMILY told today how they fled wildfires on the Greek island of Rhodes in just their swimwear — and said: “We’re lucky to be alive.”
Toby Gallagher, 48, wife Louise, 41, and daughters Zara, eight, and Jasmin, six, were among hundreds of sunseekers on the beach when their nearby hotel caught alight.
Toby, Louise and daughters Zara and Jasmin had to flee Rhodes in just their swimwearDarren Fletcher – Commissioned by The Sun
The Princess Sun hotel where they were staying had caught alightDarren Fletcher – Commissioned by The Sun
Days earlier they had seen smoke on the horizon but were assured they were not at riskDarren Fletcher – Commissioned by The Sun
Days earlier they had seen smoke on the horizon but were assured they were not at risk.
Then on Saturday fellow guests hurried to the beach with suitcases as flames surrounded the hotel, just out of sight up a winding track.
Despite heroic efforts from staff, flames lapped at the doors to apartment blocks — but miraculously left rooms untouched.
Toby, of Manchester, said: “I can’t believe how close the fire got. It wouldn’t be an understatement to say we are lucky to be alive.
“We had been on the beach all day when suddenly people were wheeling their suitcases down the hill towards us.”
Some 375 Brits had been staying at the four-star Princess Sun hotel, overlooking the golden sands and pristine blue sea of Kiotari.
In the bar, terrified revellers left their drinks on tables in their rush to find safety.
Windows were shattered, the roof covering an outdoor seated area caved in and a wedding venue was reduced to a mangled mess of twisted metal and ash.
Louise said: “We didn’t grasp the severity of it until we started seeing people walking along the shoreline with their luggage.
“A yellow parasailing boat pulled up at the water’s edge. The man on board yelled, ‘we have got to go, we have got to go, the fire’s here’.”
Louise went on: “We were still trying not to panic because we didn’t want to scare the children.
“There was a free-for-all for the boat but we decided to stay on the beach.
“We were with three other families who, like us, had been at the beach all day and were also in their swimwear.
“Those on board the boat abandoned their luggage on the sand. A lot of people were panicking.”
The IT worker added: “Toby was in a pair of blue swimming shorts, I was wearing an orange bikini and a black playsuit and the girls had stripey blue cossies on.
“We had nothing else with us. No passports, no luggage, nothing.
Parts of the Princess Sun were destroyed by the huge flamesDarren Fletcher – Commissioned by The Sun
Tourists like Toby and Louise’s family fled to the sea with their luggage to escape the infernoDarren Fletcher – Commissioned by The Sun
“We evacuated with everyone else and a couple who saw us later gave Toby a T-shirt to put on and I was given a dress.
“That’s all we’ve had for three days.”
The family joined hundreds of poeple walking two miles in the dark to the nearby village of Gennadi as the raging inferno downed power lines.
They remained at the roadside for a couple of hours and watched as military trucks evacuating up to 50 holidaymakers at a time sped back and forth.
Finally, they were taken by bus to the Atrium hotel where they bedded down on the concrete floor along with 2,000 others.
They were taken to another hotel on Sunday before clambering on another bus which took them to a hotel on the north of the island.
A total of 19,000 have so far fled the Greek fires, the worst on record.
Corfu has also been hit with red alert warnings for Crete and the Italian isle of Sicily.
Mercy flights back to the UK continued yesterday and will resume again today with thousands of Brits still stranded.
Tour operator TUI said it had cancelled all holidays until July 31.
But those with holidays booked in the south eastern corner of Rhodes are likely to face heartbreak for much longer.
Jet2 said it had cancelled flights to Rhodes up to and including July 30.
It has operated ten flights to the UK from Rhodes, including four repatriation flights and six scheduled flights.
A spokesman said: “We continue to fly aircraft to Rhodes with no customers aboard, so that we can bring our customers back to the UK on their scheduled flights, as well as any additional Jet2 customers who wish to return to the UK.”
The Gallaghers — who returned to their gutted hotel yesterday to retrieve their possessions and travel documents — vowed to continue their ten-day holiday.
Louise said Jet2 had offered an emergency flight home but she refused to leave the island without her wedding rings, which she had taken off after suffering a reaction to the heat.
She insisted: “Jet2 said that if we did not take the emergency flight home we would have to pay for our own accommodation on the island and the flight back.
“That was a price I was willing to pay for my rings.
“We’ve since spoken to Jet2 and they have agreed to put us up in another hotel away from the fires, and to honour our original holiday flight home at the end of this week.
“We intend to give the girls their holiday.
“I’d rather go home, but they’ve been through a traumatic experience and I want to try and enjoy what time we have left on the island.”
Meanwhile fears were growing of thousands more holidays being cancelled in the coming days — with Rhodes hotel bosses admitting they could be unable to open for at least a month.
One said: “We can’t do anything until the fires have been extinguished.
“We are drawing up lists of what has been left behind, packing them up and trying to get them back.
“But our workers, here for the holiday season, have returned to Athens.
“We also need to test the infrastructure — including the electricity. At the moment we have water, but not enough to clean all of our rooms.
“If the infrastructure is OK we might be able to get the hotel back open in three to four weeks — that is the best case scenario.”
