Firefighters struggled through the night to contain 82 wildfires across Greece, 64 of which started Sunday, the hottest day of the summer so far.
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00:00 Thousands of tourists are attempting to leave the Greek island of Rhodes as wildfires continue
00:05 to rage.
00:07 Firefighters said they were dealing with 46 new blazes over the past 24 hours.
00:13 Some tourists spent the night in the airport bedding down on the terminal floor.
00:17 According to the authorities, more than 19,000 people have had to flee the fires burning
00:22 across the popular destination following weeks of soaring temperatures.
00:27 Airport staff are doing their best to cope.
00:30 They brought us to the airport, they got us food and drinks yesterday, really taking
00:34 care of us.
00:35 The little kids were afraid, you know, it was chaos and you see the fire and the smoke
00:42 and it was very terrifying for all of us.
00:47 Many tourists were forced to leave their hotels in a hurry but were not sure what would happen
00:51 next.
00:52 I looked up at the ridge, up at Lardos and I saw flames and I thought, oh my word, it's
01:01 getting closer.
01:02 A police guy came up with the lights flashing and shouted at our hotel owner, get everybody
01:08 out.
01:09 We couldn't come to the hotel because the police has said it's not possible.
01:15 Anyway, we managed somehow to get there, to pack our luggage and wait on the beach until
01:24 someone comes.
01:26 Some have already made it back home.
01:28 These tourists took a plane on Sunday and landed at Vienna airport.
01:32 All were relieved to be safe.
01:34 We have only taken the most important thing, our whole hotel is burned down.
01:39 We are just not happy that we are coming home.
01:42 An evacuation order has now also been issued for parts of Corfu after a wildfire broke
01:47 out in the northern part of the island on Sunday afternoon.
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