Global Courant
A Canadian-built plane fighting wildfires in Greece crashed on Tuesday, as Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis warned of tough days ahead, with fires destroying homes and forcing the evacuation of thousands of tourists from the island of Rhodes.
State broadcaster ERT showed footage of the plane dropping water over a fire, then crashing into a hill and bursting into flames.
The Hellenic Air Force said two airmen were aboard the amphibious aircraft Canadair CL-215 when it crashed over the island of Evia, east of Athens.
Two helicopters were rushed to the scene to conduct a search and rescue operation, the Air Force said. It gave no details about the fate of the airmen.
‘What the whole planet is dealing with’
Hundreds of firefighters, aided by troops from Turkey and Slovakia, battled fires that had raged on the island of Rhodes since last Wednesday and flared up again in hot, windy conditions. There would be more emergency flights to take holidaymakers home.
Mitsotakis said on Tuesday that the next few days will be difficult, with better conditions possible after Thursday.
“We’re all watching,” he said. “In light of what the whole planet is facing, especially the Mediterranean Sea, a climate change hotspot, there is no magic defense mechanism. If there were, we would have implemented it.”
LOOK | Fires out of control ravage Greek island
Fires that have gotten out of hand are ravaging the Greek island
Locals and tourists are fleeing fires on the popular holiday island of Rhodes as wildfires ravage the island, prompting urgent calls for help.
An assessment by scientists published Tuesday said human-induced climate change has played an “absolutely overwhelming” role in the extreme heat waves that swept North America, southern Europe and China this month.
In Greece, a public prosecutor in Rhodes has launched an investigation into the causes of the fires and the preparedness and response of the authorities, according to ERT. It said about 10 percent of the island’s land area had burned.
‘When I leave there is no hotel’
Lefteris Laoudikos, whose family owns a small hotel in the seaside town of Kiotari, one of the epicenters of the blaze over the weekend, said the 200 guests – mostly from Germany, Britain and Poland – fled in rental cars.
He said his father, cousin and two others tried to douse the flames using a nearby water tank.
“On Saturday, when I saw the wind and there were no planes, I said to everyone, ‘We’re going to burn today,'” he said.
A firefighter holds a cat and two rabbits after rescuing them from a blaze between the villages of Kiotari and Genadi, on the Greek island of Rhodes, on Monday. (Spyros Bakalis/AFP/Getty Images)
“My dad saved the hotel. I called him and he wouldn’t leave. He said to me, ‘If I leave, there won’t be a hotel left.'”
John Hatzis, owner of three untouched hotels in the north of Rhodes, said the island needed to welcome tourists.
“After the superhuman efforts to contain the fire, we need superhuman efforts to restart tourism now,” he said.
20,000 evacuees
Rhodes, one of the largest islands in Greece, is one of the main summer destinations, attracting about 1.5 million foreign tourists during the summer months.
About 20,000 people had to leave homes and hotels in Rhodes over the weekend as the inferno spread and reached coastal towns on the southeast side of the island, after charring land, killing animals and damaging buildings.
After a fire in the seaside town of Mati, east of Athens, that killed 104 people in 2018, Greece has taken a more proactive approach to evacuations. But critics say it hasn’t improved its ability to put out fires that are common in summer, though more intense in this year’s heat wave.
LOOK | Thousands flee as Corfu hit by fires:
Thousands flee as fires hit Corfu
The popular tourist island of Corfu is the latest venue in Greece to order evacuations in the face of devastating fires
The mayor of Rhodes said on Facebook that the island was facing an unprecedented ordeal.
There were also fires on the island of Corfu.
Greece has seen very high temperatures in recent weeks and these will rise above 44C in some areas through Wednesday.
More than 2,000 holidaymakers had returned home by plane on Monday, and tour operators canceled upcoming trips. TUI canceled flights to Rhodes until Friday. It said it had 39,000 customers in Rhodes on Sunday evening.
Tourism accounts for 18 percent of Greece’s economic output and one in five jobs. On Rhodes and many other Greek islands, the dependence on tourism is even greater.
