Traumatized British tourists can finally return home today. The couple have told how they had to flee Rhodes after finding themselves in the path of the fire that is ravaging the Greek island.
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Ali and Paul Simpson, from Canterbury in Kent, told the newspaper in an interview The Mirrorthat they could hear the huge flames “crackling” behind them before being rescued by the military.
Another British family filmed their spectacular escape from the flames. As she crosses the sea in a speedboat, a helicopter flies over the boat to break through a large wall of smoke and fire.
AFP
They report that they believed death stalked them as they walked across the beach, accompanied by thousands of other terrified holidaymakers.
Ali and Paul Simpson had been on a day trip by boat along the southern bay of Rhodes with another couple when they became trapped by the flames.
“It was absolutely awful,” Ali said in an interview with The Mirror. “We were on a boat heading back to our hotel, but it had been engulfed in flames. All we could do was run on the beach for three hours to get away.”
AFP
After traveling several kilometers on the beach of Rhodes Bay, soldiers began their rescue operation.
It was not until Monday that rescue flights for holidaymakers caught in Rhodes began landing in the UK.
Forest fires continue to ravage parts of the Greek island.