Until 15,000 tourists have had to be evacuated this Saturday from their hotels due to the forest fires that are advancing uncontrollably on the Greek island of Rhodes, and have been transferred by boat to other safe places on the island.

A British tourist has had to walk six kilometers through smoke and ashes, and enduring 40 degree temperatures, as you can see in the main video that accompanies this news item, in which the man flees from the flames hand in hand with his five-year-old son.

Another family, which also appears in the images, had to leave the hotel where they were staying, which ended up burned to the ground. Are the scenes of despair who is leaving this tragedy on Rhodes, where the flames continue to ravage the island. Meanwhile, the terrestrial firefighting services do not rest, and at sea there are about twenty boats participating in the rescue efforts.

Greece suffers the longest heat wave in its history

Greece suffers the longest heat wave in its recent history, with almost 80 active wildfires, several of them in the vicinity of the capital. In this sense, the National Meteorological Institute has reported that temperatures will reach 45 degrees this weekend. “According to the data, we will probably pass between 16 or 17 very hot dayswhich had never happened before in our country”, warned Kostas Lagouvardos, the institute’s chief researcher, on Greek public television.

Greece defines a heat wave as a “period in which the temperature exceeds 39 degrees”, and the longest period so far was the 11 days recorded in 1987.

The Greek authorities have warned of a very high risk of fire in seven regions due to high temperatures, which in some areas can reach 45 degrees during the weekend. Dozens of firefighters from Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Slovakia and Malta have arrived in Greece to reinforce the work against the fires. At the same time, France, Italy, Turkey, Cyprus, Israel and Jordan have sent tanker planes and helicopters, according to Civil Protection.

The fires in the Athens region and on the Peloponnese peninsula are under control, but flames flare up again due to extreme dryness. The most difficult fire is the one on the island of Rhodes. According to forecasters, the heat wave will continue next week with small fluctuations. After a slight respite on Monday, temperatures on Wednesday are expected to reach as high as 46 degrees in parts of southern Greece.