Due to a large forest fire raging on the Greek island of Rhodes, many people have been evacuated from the popular holiday destination. Many flights and excursions to the island have been cancelled. A Transavia flight to Rhodes will depart this afternoon from Eindhoven Airport. Prijsvrij travel agency has also canceled trips to the island. “We look at the possibilities every day.”
“We have about fifty of our customers on the island,” says Mark van Deursen, CEO of Prijsvrij. “We have been working to return these people since yesterday, and today others are returning to the Netherlands,” he added.
Money back
Free fare cancels flights for today and tomorrow. “We look at the possibilities every day,” says Van Deursen. People who still want to go to the island are not stopped.
“If the customer really wants to go, of course we will mediate it,” Van Deursen reassures. “Because we as a travel organization cancel trips, people simply get their money back or we help them find a replacement. People have been looking forward to the holiday all year long.”
Excursion from Eindhoven
This afternoon, a Transavia flight will fly from Eindhoven Airport to Rhodes. A Transavia spokesperson said it was a “regular” scheduled flight departing. “I don’t know if people will actually board. Rhodes Airport is also still open.”
According to the spokesperson, no additional repatriation flights are planned for the time being.
Travel operator TUI, which also has flights from Eindhoven Airport, has reported that it will not be bringing any new passengers to Rhodes until Tuesday. Travel organization Corendon has also canceled trips to the island through Tuesday.
strong wind
Forest fires have been sweeping the Greek island for about six days, especially in densely wooded and sparsely populated places, and it seemed that the fires had been brought under control on Thursday, but due to strong winds, the fires spread to the areas where many tourists were staying on Saturday.
Even today, strong winds are feared on the island, which make fighting wildfires more difficult. According to the Hellenic Fire Brigade, the winds will become “severe” during the day Sunday and this can cause the fires to catch fire.
19,000 residents and tourists have already been evacuated. The evacuees spent the night in hotels, sports venues, and schools, among other places.
calamity
The disaster fund has designated the area devastated by forest fires in Rhodes as a disaster. This means that the fund reimburses the costs of travelers residing under the guarantee scheme in the southeastern part of the Greek island.
This relates to costs of, for example, travel adjustments, repatriations and unused vacation days. The requirement is that the travel organization you booked the trip with must be affiliated with the disaster fund.
Omroep Brabant is looking for Brabanders in Rhodes who have been evacuated or Brabanders who can’t take a holiday now due to bushfires. You can register via [email protected]
