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Greek Wildfires Family Abandoned

By Shannine O’Neill

**EXCLUSIVE**

THIS FAMILY was abandoned in Greece by TUI after they had to evacuate the wildfires on July 22, 2023.


Karen Verbruggen (29) from Antwerp, Belgium had her Greek family holiday cut short because of the terrifying wildfires taking over the country.

Karen went to Lindos Princess beach in Lardos, Greece with her husband Gerard (30) and three children, Demi (7), Maité (4), and Axelle (2) on July, 20, 2023.

Through TUI Belgium, Karen and her family were set for relaxation and making wonderful family memories for ten days, until July 29, 2023.

The first day they arrived at Lardos, they couldn’t have been happier and couldn’t wait to begin their holiday together as a family.

However, by 8pm that night, Maité and Gerard ‘s eyes started to prickle and started to feel itchy and Karen noticed a strange barbeque smell wafting over the resort.

They couldn’t place these strange occurrences, so they decided to head to bed and continue their holiday the next day as usual.

By Friday evening, Karen noticed that the air was starting to become incredibly smoky and there was ash dropping onto their phones.

The air smelled continuously heavier and everyone’s eyes started to prickle and itch even more by Friday evening and the air was getting warmer and warmer, almost unbearable for the family.

Karen messaged her mother asking if she had heard anything about fires in Rhodes, which her mother quickly replied that she had just watched the news and informed them that there were wildfires only 12-miles from where they were staying.

This was the first they had heard of any burning in Rhodes, as their holiday provider and hotel staff had not mentioned the situation before now.

On Saturday at 12:20pm, Karen got the warning alert on her phone stating that if they were in Lardos or Pylona, they needed to evacuate to Archaggelos immediately because of wildfires in their area.

Karen was at the pool during the time she got the alert on her phone, and looked around at the confused faces she saw before her.

Alongside most of the confused people around her, Karen made her way to the reception, where the staff told the holidayers that there was nothing to worry about and that they were safe because they were so near the beach.

Karen quickly phoned the TUI phone number that is available in case of an emergency and explained that the air felt hot and smoky, their eyes were pricking, the heat was unbearable and that they had all received the alert on their phones to evacuate.

The TUI representative told Karen that they had nothing to worry about and they were fine where they were as the fires were in other areas.

With nothing else to do and no one else to go to for help or advice, Karen and her family sat in their room wondering what the next move was when they heard airplanes above and looked outside where they saw three airplanes circling above and the air had gotten significantly darker.

Karen looked out at the mountain that was visible from their room and saw that it was clearly on fire and the fire was rapidly spreading towards them.

From that moment, they started packing their bags but were interrupted with alarms being raised throughout the hotel, indicating that they had to move quickly.

Karen and her family decided to leave their luggage behind and quickly make their way to reception, putting their lives first in such a dangerous and intense situation.

The reception was packed with other families and holidaymakers worried about what was going to happen to them.

Everyone there had to wait for a bus to arrive to transfer them, so Karen’s husband went back to their rooms and grabbed their luggage.

The bus finally arrived, but Karen and her family were told they couldn’t get on the bus because they had to wait for their own flight company’s bus, and only took around ten people with them.

Karen couldn’t believe her ears as the bus left the rest of the people there in an emergency situation.

After waiting even longer for their bus to come, Karen and her husband put wet washcloths over their children’s mouths trying to stop as much smoke inhalation as possible.

Seeing another bus come and nearly go without many people again, Karen’s husband pleaded with the bus driver to let them leave with him as they had small children breathing in the smoke and they were scared for their safety, which the driver reluctantly let them join.

They were taken to a local village where two TUI representatives and local volunteers handed out food and water to them, but they had to get back on the bus again to go to another town's sport center where they had to find their own accommodation and stay the night until TUI knew what to do with everyone in the situation.

Karen, her husband and their three children were left sitting on the side of the road to figure out what to do when a helpful local approached them and told them where they could find accommodations, which they gratefully accepted.

Karen and her family finally made it home on July 24, 2023 but have yet to hear of any compensation from TUI.

“The first day Thursday, around 8pm my husband and middle child's eyes were prickling and there was like a heavy barbeque smell, but we didn't think much about it,” she said.

“The second day, Friday, again in the evening, the air was smokey and there were ashes falling on our phones, eyes prickling again, heavy smell, extremely warm, so I texted my mom back home if there were fires in Rhodes.

“She only found news on other countries' sites, that indeed it was burning, around 20 km's from where we were.

“That's the first time we heard it was indeed burning in Rhodes.”

It was just after midday on Saturday when Karen received the official alert from the Greek government about evacuating.

“My phone started vibrating, I saw the message and didn't know what to think at first,” she said.

“Then, a little alarm on my tablet went off with the same message.

“I called my mom and friends back home, to go ask TUI if they knew anything.

“Then I looked at how far Lardos was away, my iPhone said 2.1km and Lardos beach 250m.

“I looked around the pool cause everyone got the message, but people were also confused about it just as we were.”

Both the hotel staff and TUI representatives reiterated that nothing was wrong and that they shouldn’t panic because of where they were.

“So we went to the reception, with a lot of other people,” she said.

“They said we were fine, that we didn't need to worry, and that we were safe cause we were at the beach.

“So the next thing I did was go to our room and call the TUI number in case of an emergency.
“I told them the air was so hot, smokey, prickly and about the alert.

“They said we were fine where we were, and it was about other areas.

“She just told us to keep her updated if something changed.”

It was completely at Karen and her family’s discretion that they decided to pack their things and leave, before they finally heard an emergency alarm go off throughout the hotel advising them to evacuate.

“So we sat there in our room not being sure what to do, then we heard airplane noises, went outside (backdoor) and saw the air was darker, and three airplanes flying circles,” she said.

“My husband told me to start packing right then. I said I wanted to see through the front door and that's when we saw that 'our mountain' besides our hotel was on fire. We went back inside and started packing very quickly.

“We were almost finished packing when all the alarms were going off, indicating we had to move quickly, so we decided to leave our luggage at first and go out.

“We went up to the reception and it was packed already, there we went outside and it was so hot and Smokey.

“It took a while before a bus came, and I saw other people having their luggage, so I told my husband to go back and take ours, because we had to be waiting long.”

Karen was confused and shocked at how the evacuation process was handled at the hotel, with buses leaving with only a few people in an emergency situation, just because they had to wait for their airline’s bus to arrive, no matter how long that took.

“When he was back, it still took some time for the one bus to arrive but they wouldn't take us with them, they left with like ten people, saying we needed to wait for our flight company's bus,” she said.

“We couldn't believe our ears, it was an emergency and they didn't want to take everyone, so we kept waiting, trying to protect our daughters with wet washcloths, then my husband saw an empty bus and asked if he could let us in.

“First he said no cause he didn't have reception with his phone (none of us) and didn't know what to do, but when my husband said we had small children in the smoke, he let them go on.

“The bus took us to another village school, where we were given food and water from the local people.

“It was only local volunteers and two people from TUI. After a long time being there, they said we had to go on a bus again to another town's sports center.”

Once Karen and her family got to their final destination for the night, she was overwhelmed with how helpful and attentive the local people were to them.

“There we had to stay the night(s) until TUI knew what to do with us,” she said.

“Luckily some local people were also helping tourists finding places to stay and saw us sitting on the side with our children.

“They came up to us, and said they knew a place we could go, and if we wanted to go with them.

“We of course said yes, and they brought us to the nicest lady possible.

“She had drinks bought for us, breakfast, she really was the best.”

The situation was incredibly scary and distressing for Karen and her husband, as they just wanted everything to be safe for their children.

“The two of us could've managed, but it's an all other thing when your daughters are involved, seeing them cry and panic, eyes red from the smoke, trying to protect them was scary,” she said.

“The evacuation felt impossible because it took the buses so long to come, and when they came they didn't take us right away.

“You can't imagine what it was unless you were in it.”

Although the situation was incredibly scary for the whole family, Karen was blown-away by the locals who helped them at their own dispense, and owes their safety to them the most.

“I really really want to say how heartwarming it was, how the local people are,” she said.

“They did more for us than anyone else.

“They are the ones going through most of the suffering, losing their island, still they were so worried about us instead of themselves.

“It still warms my heart when I think about them.

“We will never forget them.”

ENDS