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Irish people urged not to travel to popular Greek islands

Irish people urged not to travel to popular Greek islands

The Department of Foreign Affairs has urged Irish people not to travel to parts of Greece affected by wildfires.

Holidaymakers have been forced to cancel trips and evacuate as large blazes engulf tourist islands including Corfu, Evia, and Rhodes.

The Irish Travel Agents Association says northern resorts in Rhodes are largely unaffected.

President of The ITAA, Paul Hackett says people need to contact their agents.

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"Consumers who booked with travel agents need to contact their travel agents, the likes of TUI have been very good about changes and full refunds for passengers due to travel this Wednesday to Rhodes and they will have that same policy through for the week."

However, Ruby McManus, a student from Dublin flew into Rhodes on Saturday night with her family and alleges that TUI still hasn't given her family any significant update.

A spokesperson for TUI meanwhile says teams are working tirelessly to help customers affected, with over 300 staff there assisting alongside the community and emergency services.

They've also cancelled all outbound flights to Rhodes.

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Many tourists holidaying on this island spent the night in local schools, including Ruby and her family. She described her first 24 hours as "horrific".

She said there was no transportation for about an hour and were told that they might not be able to go to their hotel as it could be on fire.

"We were told that we were going to go stay in a school which hundreds of people were in."

She added that the electricity was in and out and that the running water stopped at around 1 or 2 am which meant the toilet didn't flush, they couldn't wash their hands or couldn't fill up any water bottles.

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President of The Irish Travel Agents Association, Paul Hackett says beaches in Corfu have also been evacuated.

"We're getting reports last night from evacuations from one of the beaches in the north of the island. We have no other reports of any resorts or hotels being evacuated at this stage."

He also says there are about 1000 to 1200 Irish people on the island at any given time.

Officials in Corfu have started using boats to get people off the Island - as wildfires spread, leaving residents and tourists terrified.

It comes as a heatwave continues to grip countries in southern Europe with temperatures reaching over 40 degrees Celsius.

Keep up to date with all the latest news on our website Beat102103.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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