Greece Wildfire: 2,500 More Evacuated From Corfu Island

Close to 2,500 more people were evacuated by the authorities from the island of Corfu on Monday as Greece battles devastating wildfires due to rising temperatures.

Al Jazeera reported that tens of thousands of people have already fled from the Greek island of Rhodes after a massive wildfire.

A wildfire has been ablaze in the centre and southern regions of Rhodes, a very popular tourist destination, since last week's Tuesday, according to CNN.

It is the largest among several fires that have broke out in Greece, which is burning due to extreme heat waves that, as per experts, will end up being the nation's longest on record.

Rescue efforts included the transportation of 16,000 people, including tourists and locals by land and 3,000 by sea in what was termed by the Greek government as "the largest such effort Greece has ever seen".

The central and the southern regions of the Rhodes island are where firefighters are at present putting their focus and concentrating their efforts on three active fronts, reported CNN quoting the local fire department officials.

Meanwhile, the fire is currently raging in the nearby Kiotari and Lardos, not very far from the Lindos archeological site. However, there has not been any threat to the site so far.

It may be noted that Lindos is an archaeological site, a fishing village and a former municipality on the island of Rhodes, in the Dodecanese, Greece.

Around 30,000 people fled Rhodes at the weekend, the country’s largest-ever wildfire evacuation.

According to Al Jazeera, Rhodes, which counted 2.5 million visitor arrivals in 2022, is one of Greece’s leading holiday destinations.

Greece is plagued by forest fires which often turn out to be deadly, ravaging tens of thousands of hectares of forest lands and vegetation.

This summer, the country experienced one of the longest heatwaves in recent years, according to experts, with the thermometer hitting 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) on the weekend, as per Al Jazeera.

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