Wildfires in Rhodes have left 5,000 British tourists trapped, as the Foreign Office and tour operators scurry to arrange emergency return aircraft.
Another 30,000 British tourists with booked vacations are stranded, as hotels and resorts on the Greek islands have shuttered indefinitely.
On the seventh day of Greece’s wildfires, infernos have expanded at an alarming rate, scorching the ground and herding people to the beaches.
The Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, declared “war” on the flames yesterday and warned that this could only be the beginning.
He said: “Do not be fooled. It will be a difficult summer.”
More than 270 firefighters have been enlisted to douse the 82 wildfires currently surging across Greece, 64 of which started on Sunday.
On Monday night, Greek authorities issued an evacuation order for Kalathos, a popular region on the island of Rhodes.
The wildfires come as temperatures in Greece continue to soar over 40C, with forecasts warning that highs of 44C could take hold of the country on Wednesday.
The World Weather Attribution team estimated rising greenhouse gas concentrations has made the European heatwave 2.5C hotter than it otherwise would have been.