Mother tells of family’s ‘terrifying’ experience fleeing fire-ravaged Rhodes two hours after arriving

The Independent

A mother has told of her family’s “terrifying” experience fleeing fire-ravaged Rhodes.Clare and James Gorick and their sons Harry, 13, and Wilfie, 10, landed at Gatwick Airport on Tuesday night (25 July) after they were forced to fly home just hours after arriving at a villa in Kalathos."There was smoke everywhere, ash everywhere, and then we heard sirens and police shouting for us to get out," Ms Gorick explained. "You could just see the fire coming towards us. Lots of locals were really upset. There were lots of tears, people crying as they were driving off."

Transcript

00:00 So we were meant to be staying in a villa in Kalathos but we didn't stay a night there

00:14 because we were evacuated two hours after arriving.

00:17 So we went out to the supermarket and then weren't allowed back so we had to stay in

00:26 an apartment in the city on the first night then we were told we could go back which we

00:33 did but we were only there for an hour.

00:35 There was smoke everywhere, ash everywhere and then we heard sirens and police shouting

00:41 for us to get out again and you could just see the fire coming towards us.

00:50 Lots of locals were really upset, there was lots of tears, you saw lots of people crying

00:56 as they were driving off.

00:59 Hundreds of coaches coming towards us to pick up people from all the villages and they were

01:07 absolutely packed.

01:08 I've just sat next to somebody on the plane who said that their hotel burnt down and they

01:13 were sleeping in a hotel lobby for three nights and her mother had ended up in hospital because

01:22 of smoke inhalation.

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