Tories urge Foreign Office to add Rhodes to travel ‘red list’ so holidaymakers can get refunds – as figures show department’s HQ has been half-empty this month
Tories are urging the Foreign Office to add Rhodes to its ‘red list’ of countries so holidaymakers can get refunds.
Despite the fires raging on the island, the government’s guidance merely urges Brits to check with airlines and hotels before setting off.
But pressure is mounting to advise against all-but essential travel to the destination, which would allow people to decide not to go without suffering a big financial hit.
There has been criticism that Whitehall has been too slow to respond, in echoes of the bungled Afghanistan evacuation operation in the summer of 2021. Official figures show that the Foreign Office HQ was only 49 per cent full last week.
An estimated 10,000 Brits are on the Greek island with 30,000 due there over the coming weeks as huge numbers of exhausted holidaymakers arrived back and slammed the ‘chaotic’ evacuation. Many hotels are set to be closed for at least the next two weeks.
Rhodes burns for a seventh day. A weeklong wildfire on the Greek resort island has sparked mass evacuations with thousand of Brits abroad – but some are still attempting to get there
Brits have been warned not to travel to the burning island of Rhodes (pictured) – as an easyJet pilot even pleaded with passengers to disembark a flight there
Today it emerged that an easyJet pilot heading to Rhodes had issued a stern warning to Brits on his plane. Some 37 passengers, including a young boy, attempted to fly out of Gatwick despite terrifying fires scorching the Greek island, sparking the country’s biggest evacuation in history.
But in the final moments before take-off, the pilot issued a stark warning, telling passengers on board the 180-seat capacity aircraft that travelling to the resort island was a ‘bad idea’.
The pilot reportedly told passengers over the Tannoy before take-off: ‘Travelling to Rhodes for a holiday at the moment is a terrible idea. As far as I’m concerned, this flight is being operated on an emergency basis. Return flights are now being managed by the military. If you want to get off flight, you are welcome to do so.
‘I don’t know in what capacity you are travelling, but if you are travelling for leisure, my sincere recommendation is it’s a bad idea.’
Foreign Affairs Select Committee chair Alicia Kearns acknowledged that the government and other European countries were unwilling to block tourism and harm the Greek economy.
But the Tory MP told the i: ‘My view is that the Government should update the travel advice for Rhodes to ‘advise against all but essential travel’.
She also rebuked airlines, saying: ‘Airlines are more than capable of deciding to stop flying.
‘It is paradoxical that holiday package providers have cancelled, but airlines are not. Airlines should take the responsible decision to stop flying, and focus on repatriation flights.’
Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesperson Layla Moran said: ‘It is staggering that the Foreign Ofice travel guidance for Rhodes does not advise against all but essential travel.’
The government has sent a team to Rhodes to assist Britons and liaise with the authorities.
Housing Secretary Michael Gove said he plans to holiday on a Greek island as he insisted the region is safe for holidaymakers despite fire concerns.
He denied to Times Radio that the Foreign Office has taken too relaxed an approach.
‘In fact I’m due to go on holiday, God willing, to Greece in just over a week’s time, not to Rhodes but to another island and I’m looking forward to going,’ he added.
‘Greece is a wonderful country, a wonderful place to holiday and we do need to support the Greek government in dealing with the situation in Rhodes. My heart goes out to those who are affected but the advice is clear, if you follow the Foreign Office advice it is safe.’
He told Sky News the island he was going to is Evia.
A wildfire has caused havoc on the Greek island of Rhodes with around 19,000 people having so far been evacuated from villages and hotels