Wildfires in Rhodes prompt evacuation flights for troubled tourists

The horrendous wildfires on the Greek islands have left scores and scores of tourists needing to be evacuated from the affected areas, with Rhodes being particularly badly hit.

Some of the leading UK holiday airlines are adding extra services to the islands to bring people home early. 

Jet2 has cancelled all flights and holidays going to Rhodes for at least seven days. The company is operating five empty aircraft to the island over the next few hours to bring people back. 

Tui has cancelled all its flights to the island until Wednesday, however, it advises that customers currently in Rhodes will only be able to return on their intended flights home

easyJet has said it intends to operate two rescue flights today, with another tomorrow in addition to its normal nine scheduled flights between Rhodes and the UK

British Airways said its flights to Rhodes were running as normal, but passengers are able to postpone and / or change their flights free of charge. 

Thomas Cook has axed some holidays to affected areas and offered a refund to those customers. Customers with packages booked this week to other areas of Rhodes will be offered the option to either continue with plans or cancel and get a refund. 

Ryanair is operating flights as per normal schedule, yet is monitoring the situation carefully.

Corfu is beginning an evacuation, with almost 2500 people moved to safety overnight and more will be moved today according to local firefighters. 

Local news agency ANA-MPA has reported that parts of the island of Evia have also been or are in the process of being evacuated. Residents in Livadi, Potami, Pernaraki and Platanisto - have been told to evacuate for precautionary measures and move towards the area of Karystos.