Rhodes wildfires: Leeds family trapped in Greece tell of 'doomsday' scenes as pictures show evacuation chaos

Mark Cosgrove, a photojournalist who regularly snaps at Leeds United and Leeds Rhinos matches, said that he, his wife and hundreds of other guests staying at their hotel in Lindos were woken up in the early hours of Sunday morning and driven to stay in schools on other parts of the island.

He described a “doomsday” feelings among the staff and guests and said that since returning to the hotel on Sunday evening, there remains a smoky smell in the air and ash falling from the sky.

Mr Cozy also said that Jet2 were “appalling” when it came to supporting customers and providing information after being evacuated.

The company has responded saying its “entire focus is on looking after customers” and highlighted repatriation flights that have been arranged to get customers home.

As many as 10,000 Britons are estimated to be on the popular Greek island, part of which has been ravaged by the blazes in the last few days, forcing many to sleep in schools, airports and sports centres.

Mr Cosgrove, who lives in Barnsley, said that he and his wife arrived on the island at midnight after flying from Manchester with Jet2 on Friday (July 21).

He said: “Coming from the airport the taxi driver was telling us about the fires. We could see the hills glowing.”

Mr Cosgrove said that the skies were clear on Saturday morning but that he spotted a “massive plume of smoke” drift across the beach as the wind started blowing in the afteroon.

Mr Cosgrove said: “Me being me I got my iPhone out and got some pictures and now they’ve been used around the world.”

He said that later on he and his wife were about to go for their first evening meal but were prevented from doing so by staff who said that guests couldn’t leave due to the fires.

It was at around 12.30am after going to bed, he said, that he received a knock on the door from a member of staff asking them to grab their passports and bank cards and evacuate the building.

He said: “It was very panicky. It was like doomsday. They were saying 'we’ve got to get you out of here straight away’.”

He said that staff and customers – about 300 people in total – were taken to the evacuation point of the hotel and waited for coaches provided by hotel providers to pick them up.

Mr Cosgrove added that he himself wasn’t too distressed by the situation as his job has seen him work in some highly devastating situations, including covering the Manchester Arena bombings in 2017.

"You are geared up for it after seeing it first hand but this time I was on the other side”, he said. “But my wife was the complete opposite. She was a bag of nerves. And so were a lot of people. Nobody knew what to do.”

He said that hotel staff were “great” as they ensured guests were watered and that there was a doctor on site.

A coach then arrived and took the Jet2 customers to find an alternative place to stay. He said that they were turned away from two schools before being able to get off at a primary school in Archangelos to stay over in.

Mr Cosgrove said that he and other Jet2 customers didn’t receive a message until 4am and that it was a “general one saying there was fires in the area”.

He said that they then didn’t receive another message from Jet2 until midday, in between which he and others had been unable to contact the company or get further information from customer services.

He said that a Jet2 employee visited the site during the night and was asked to provide food and drink and stuff to sleep on but there was “no interaction”.

He said that a representative from the company came to the school later on Sunday morning but told the customers there was “nothing they could do” as they could “only follow government guidance”.

“They have been appalling”, he said. “There was no provisions.”

He said that local residents were “fantastic” though, providing essentials and offering to take the most vulnerable back to their homes so they could eat and clean.

He said he was informed by staff at the hotel in Lindos that they could return at 4pm and when he approached Jet2, they said they couldn’t provide a coach or pay for taxis. Mr Cosgrove said that local residents began driving stranded tourists back to their hotels "in their droves” and that he and his wife were driven back by the former mayor of Rhodes.

“We offered to pay for petrol and they wouldn’t take it. They said they are just here to help.

"They were unbelievable. All of the local Greeks came through. It restored your faith in humanity”

Speaking on Monday morning (July 24), Mr Cosgrove said that there was still the smell of smoke in the air but that he and other guests were now trying to enjoy the rest of their holidays.

"But in a couple more hours the situation might change again”, he said.

A spokesperson for Jet2.com and Jet2holidays said: “We have a significantly expanded presence in Rhodes, with a huge team of experienced colleagues providing all the support we can for our customers, whether that is in affected areas or at Rhodes Airport.

“We have also put on three repatriation flights to bring our customers home, which is on top of our scheduled programme of flights that will continue to operate from Rhodes to the UK this week. We are continuing to make decisions in the best interests of our customers, and we are keeping everything under constant review.”