Scottish holidaymakers evacuated during Greek wildfires

Scottish holidaymakers in Greece were evacuated from their accommodation as nearby wildfires threatened to spread.

Wildfires are common in the country but authorities have warned of growing risks due to dry conditions, strong winds and temperatures reaching highs of 40C.

The Greek prime minister warned tourists that further blazes this summer could “be particularly dangerous”.

Chelsea Dick, 18, was on holiday in Kos with her boyfriend Kaiden Mackenzie when she was alerted to “severe” wildfires in the area and told to evacuate on Monday night.

Tourists in another eastern Aegean island, Chios, were also evacuated.

According to the newspaper Kathimerini, the country has been on high alert for wildfires since Tuesday.

The latest evacuations come less than a year after 20,000 holidaymakers were flown out of Rhodes because of wildfires there.

More than 40 people died in Algeria, Italy and Greece last July as Mediterranean blazes threatened villages and holiday resorts.

Fires raged in the tourist hotspots of Corfu and Evia, while the entire island of Rhodes was put into a state of emergency.

Ms Dick, from Glenrothes, told BBC Radio Scotland’s Drivetime programme: “Me and my boyfriend were swimming in the sea yesterday morning when we saw this helicopter coming over to pick up water.

“We didn’t know anything about it, but when we got out the sea we saw a massive cloud of smoke which covered the sun. It made everything look orange.

“Our friends that we met over here were a bit freaked out by it.”

She said the couple went back to their hotel room afterwards and packed a bag in case they needed to evacuate.

“Then we got an alert on our phone after that saying it was ‘severe’ and we needed to exit the village,” she added.

“There was ash everywhere as well.

“I was very, very scared and nervous but there was nothing I could do.”

They moved to the neighbouring village which was deemed to be safe from the wildfire.

“We’re just trying to move on now,” she said. “I had no idea this would happen here.

“I asked some of the locals and they said it had been roughly 12 years since they had their last wildfire.”

However, she said the couple were keen to enjoy the rest of their holiday and it would not put her off visiting Greece again.

“But I’ll be glad to be home after that,” she added.

On Wednesday, a wildfire consumed olive groves in the Moria region on the island of Lesvos.

On the same day, a water-bombing aircraft was deployed to put out a wildfire on the outskirts of Athens, and residents living in two settlements on the outskirts of the capital had to be evacuated.

Last month a volunteer firefighter died battling wildfires fanned by gale-force winds in Ilia on the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece.