Inferno must be wake-up call on global warming, says minister

Evacuation flights bring back terrified British tourists trapped on Rhodes as fires sweep through island

- Nicholas Cecil

EVACUATION flights were "bringing back" Britons escaping the wildfire in Rhodes as a minister warned today that the disaster must be a "wake-up call" on global warming.

Between 7,000 to 10,000 British citizens were believed to be on the Greek island hit by "toxic heat," with fires blighting 10 to 20 per cent of it.

Some of them told of their fears as flames swept through swathes of the popular tourist destination, sparking chaos and a desperate race to safety.

The wildfire had been confined to the mountainous centre but, aided by winds, very high temperatures and dry conditions, it swept towards the coast on the central-eastern side.

It forced the evacuation of 19,000 people over the weekend as the inferno reached coastal resorts on the island's south-eastern coast. "It was quite a bit of a struggle on the beach with the smoke," said John Hope, a tourist from Manchester. Dan Jones, a sports teacher from Torquay, had to climb on to a fishing trawler with his sons on Saturday night, describing it as "the scariest moment" in his life.

Nursery worker Vicky Morris, 34, from Cheltenham, told The Sun her four-year-old daughter Cassie Bell had asked: "Are we going to die, Mummy?"

Rhodes deputy mayor Konstantinos Taraslias told state broadcaster ERT this morning. "We are in the seventh day of the fire and it hasn't been controlled."