Wildfires Rhodes - family stranded

[strawthatbrokethecamelsback]

posting here for traffic

my brother & family are stranded in Rhodes. They have been evacuated from Mitsis Rodos Village Beach Hotel & Spa. They have nothing but the clothes on their back. All passports & documents are in the hotel.

just a awful situation for absolutely everyone, locals especially.

we have no information as to whether the hotel has been destroyed or not. If it has we’ll need to think about getting them to the embassy for emergency passports.

The insurance company are on it and are trying to help but we’re having trouble just getting through to them on the phone.

I know this is a massive long shot but does anyone have any local knowledge or any updates of what the situation is?

One useful thing people can do, in case they are ever the unlucky ones, is make sure they have an image of the personal information page of their passport in their phone (and maybe even an old-fashioned photocopy in case of dead battery) plus shots of those belonging to the people they are travelling with, plus leave one with someone you trust and whose contact details you know by heart.

Because being able to show that info - whether you are in an larger emergency, or are dealing with lost/stolen whilst away - is very helpful to the issuing of emergency travel clearance for return to UK

BTW, the consular/embassy info I linked above says:

"If you’re in Greece and you need advice which is not covered by reading our travel advice then you can contact us online" so no-one needs to be either tying up phone lines or avoiding contact. There are also links on how to apply online for emergency travel document. There is a consulate in Rhodes, but it doesn't say how it's operating at present, so prob best to go through the online route they publish

As frustrating as it is, they just need to sit tight. No point calling the embassy now when they don’t know if their passports have been destroyed. They should have an emergency line for tour operators, but I’d imagine it’s busy. As hard as it is, they will have to sit tight, follow local directions and wait for further advice and instruction. What a nightmare when you go for a nice relaxing family holiday.

What a shame for everyone. The families. The hotel workers and owners. Rhodes is so beautiful.

I hope everyone can get home soon. This will devastate their tourism economy

Would it take 30seconds to go from the pool, or restaurant to your room on perhaps the third floor on the complete opposite side of the hotel?

Yes, it would be so sensible to nip back to your room when the building is in danger of catching fire...

Hope they are OK, OP. How terrible for the people of Rhodes and their visitors.

Indeed, quite an ignorant comment from thenightsky

OP, hopefully you get some rest you must feel very stressed. Thank god you’ve managed to get through to them and they’re okay! The embassy will sort them out re not having their passports.

what an awful situation

I’m reminded of that South Park episode featuring “Captain Hindsight”.

Always a good idea to have scans of your travel documents uploaded an email account so that if you're in this situation you can access and provide the data for your lost documents.
Local and government services are doing their best and will be overwhelmed by concerned relatives, which will distract them from the task in hand on the ground. Best to hold tight and knowing that they have been evacuated, they'll be OK.
Your relatives can conserve their phone battery and communicate when they have updates.
Government and local websites are likely your best sources of info right now.

Indeed. Or would it take 30 seconds to go from the taverna in the next village or the archaeological beauty spot in the next town over to your hotel room.

People often underestimate how fast wildfires travel.

OP can you help by organising the house this end. They won't have house keys, do you have spares? They won't have car keys to collect the car.

They might need copies of birth certs, utilities, drivers licence (if they left this at home) etc for proof of address and ID.

Hope they're OK, all the best.

This is quite funny really. Imagine hundreds of guests all scrambling to get to their rooms at once, queuing for the lifts (last hotel I was in I was on the 17th floor), faffing around, forgetting things and wanting to go back again...

All while the flames are literally behind the hotel and staff can't leave until everyone is out.

But yeah, it would take like 30 seconds...

These were massive multiple building hotels, not the local small and friendly type. It was a big evacuation task unfortunately. Feel so sorry for everyone involved but especially the local people who have the fallout to deal with. Homes and livelihoods destroyed and the loss of flora and fauna, its heartbreaking. A passport and insured belongings is nothing

This is such good advice

Do people honestly think that UK border control, or the airline, will deny people fleeing Rhodes flights if they don’t have their passports.

In any case this is what the Embassy people will be sorting out. They will give people emergency travel documents. Probably open a desk at the airport.

What brilliant advice.

I’ve spoken to the insurance this morning and they are putting into place their emergency responses. It’s almost certain the hotel (plus maybe 2 others???) were destroyed. It’s totally heartbreaking. As worried as I am about my family they get to come home. The poor locals this is just devastating 😞

I’m going to be sorting all of the admin this morning, so hopefully all those little stresses when they come home will be sorted

DS went on his first independent holiday this year with college mates, he rolled his eyes slightly when I took a photocopy of his passport, but it is a useful thing to do.

Oh my goodness. How awful. Im glad they are safe and hope everyone else caught up in the blaze is too.

As worried as I am about my family they get to come home. The poor locals this is just devastating 😞

This just brought a tear to my eye.

What an amazing humane person you are. It's so hard knowing your family are going through this but to have such empathy outside your own immediate concerns is truely heartwarming. I feel a lot of that has been lost since the pandemic.

Hope your family get home soon.

I’m glad your brother and his family are safe @strawthatbrokethecamelsback What a devastating event for that beautiful island.

This thread has made me think I need to keep a day’s supply of my vital medication in my possession at all times. We’ve always left a copy of our passports at home but I’ve never thought about being without all my things, in a situation like this.

It sounds horrendous for the tourists and local community. If they have managed to get everyone out in time that will have been a massive success even if it has been a horrible and stressful night for those evacuated. I hope your family get home soon OP. It seems madness that some of the operators are still flying tourists out. For an island that size this is going to be a massive incident to sort out. There are apparently people saying they arrived last night to have to go straight into a school to await evacuation home again.

This is awful

It’s just horrific, my DB is beating himself up and very emotional about leaving their passports behind, I’m sure he’s thinking that in hindsight it would have taken 30 seconds to get them 🙄 we all know that that isn’t possible and would have put him in great danger

the reality is all of those things can and will be replaced. You feel so helpless though 😞

He’s bound to feel like that @strawthatbrokethecamelsback He will soon understand what a dangerous thing that would have been to do.

at risk of asking a very stupid question here, but what are the advantages to photographing passports?