2023-07-23 13:42:21
Update
July 23, 2023
15:42
The Embassy in Athens and the FPS Foreign Affairs have been contacted by around twenty Belgian families with a request for assistance.
The FPS Foreign Affairs, the Belgian Embassy in Athens and the Honorary Consul in Rhodes, Greece, are mobilized to come to the aid of Belgians while violent forest fires are raging In the region.
The FPS Foreign Affairs recommends to Belgians who are going to the island of Rhodes to follow the instructions of the local authorities and contact their travel agency before they leave, he says.
In total, underlines the SPF, 132 Belgians live in Rhodes and 70 Belgians are registered on the “Travellers Online” platform from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which can thus more easily inform them and provide support if necessary.
The Embassy in Athens and the FPS Foreign Affairs were contacted by around twenty Belgian families with a support request. Their situation is being monitored on a case-by-case basis, the utility said.
19,000 preventive evacuations
Belgians who are not registered at the embassy or on “Travellers Online”, or their relatives in Belgium, can contact the Belgian Embassy in Athens (emergency number: +30 6945235055) or the permanent guard service of the FPS Foreign Affairs in Brussels: 02/501.81.11.
The FPS Foreign Affairs also specifies that Belgians in the affected areas have been invited to inform the embassy of their situation and their location.
Some 30,000 people had to leave their homes or hotels on Saturday due to the fire in the east of this island of the Dodecanese archipelago while the tourist season is in full swing. They were sheltered in gymnasiums, schools or conference centers for the night.
According to the police quoted by the Greek news agency ANA, about 19,000 people were evacuated as a precautionof which 16,000 were by land and 3,000 by sea.
Tour operators suspend stays
Brussels Airlines will continue to serve the Greek island of Rhodes for the time being. “Today’s (Sunday) flight is maintained and there are no plans to cancel any other flights,” Brussels Airlines said.
The Belgian airline offers several flights a week to the Greek island. “We noticed a number of cancellations on the flight to Rhodes today (Sunday), partly because a tour operator had reserved seats,” the spokesperson added.
The low-cost Dutch company Transavia also indicated on Sunday that it was continuing to serve the island.
Earlier in the day, tour operators TUI, Sunweb and Corendon announced that they were suspending all trips to Rhodes. TUI and Corendon will do it until Tuesday, Sunweb until Monday morning.
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