German tourists who escaped the fires in Rhodes and repatriated on special flights of the travel giants declare themselves shocked, but happy.
The German tour operators have been focusing in the last 24 hours on the return of tourists to Germany. The German Association of Travel Agencies DRV announced on Monday: “The tour operators started yesterday and will apparently complete on Wednesday numerous special flights for the repatriation of tourists. Some tourists are even returning on regular flights, while others were transported by ship to Athens or Turkey to return to Germany from there.”

The largest European tour operator TUI announced that yesterday it operated six additional special flights for the return of tourists to Greece, but also the United Kingdom. Both the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Federal Police are contributing to the efforts for the rapid departure of the German tourists, a spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior announced yesterday. In the afternoon, a meeting of the German government’s crisis management team is scheduled in Berlin for the overall assessment of the repatriation operation.

“We left passports and money at the hotel”

At the time when German tourists are leaving Hanover airport for the northern part of Rhodes with obvious concern, but also the hope that everything will be fine, flights are landing with vacationers who left the southern part of the island from one moment to the next.

In a report by North German Radio NDR, German tourists spoke as soon as they got off the plane about “hell on earth”: “They came and took us from the pool. That’s why we don’t wear normal clothes,” says Damian Fogel. His wife, Simone, adds: “We have neither money nor passports, we had to leave everything at the hotel.” Daniela Schultz says: “We could see huge clouds of smoke. The atmosphere was stifling. We were afraid we wouldn’t be able to breathe.” Another German, Christian Lindstedt states: “It was very difficult. We hardly slept at all. They took us to a school. But I admit the Greeks, they supported us, supplied us with water, food, everything.”

Tourists, however, are not in danger, the news agencies report, because they were already taken to safe places in the northern part of the island since Saturday. According to estimates, around 9,500 people were still being accommodated in gymnasiums, schools or Rodite homes.

Over the weekend 30,000 people were transported by bus, ferry and on foot to safety. The tour operator TUI alone had approximately 39,000 tourists in Rhodes, with 7,800 directly affected by the devastating fires, according to a statement from the German tourism giant.