Rhodes wildfires: Mum describes 'chaotic' evacuation from poolside

• Watch Emily Reader's report

A family have described their "chaotic" evacuation from the Greek island of Rhodes after being caught up in the wildfires.

The Barkers, from Newcastle, had travelled to Gennadi for the start of the school summer holidays but the trip quickly turned into a nightmare as the island became an inferno.

Their hotel was one of the first to be evacuated and they finally arrived back at Newcastle airport at 3am on Monday morning.

The children had been at kids club on Saturday while their parents were at the pool when they were urgently rushed out with fire starting close in on their hotel. They were told to get on a bus that would take them to the coast but the beach cafe was still covered in smoke.

"There was lots of fire," mum Emma Barker told ITV Tyne Tees. "I just had a swimming costume on at the time and my husband grabbed this [her top]. We literally have just the essentials but we luckily have our passports. There was lots of panic and chaos going for the bus.

"We were taken to this cafe area, and we were all questioning why we were taken down there because the smoke was coming in.

"I think they were late in telling us what to do. But in the aftermath of everything they were giving us water and they were giving us towels that were wet to cover our mouths because we were stood there for a good half an hour with the smoke."

The family remained at the cafe for over three hours until they got talking to a local whose mum owned a guesthouse. Rather than wait for the official mass evacuation they decided to travel with him and were given two beds for the night.

"We got a guesthouse, it was very hot and it was awful for about two hours," Mrs Parker explained. "But in hindsight, we were lucky because what we have learned is others got stuck at 2am on boats not knowing where they are going."

Mrs Barker, from the Gosforth area of the city, admitted she was blown away by the kindness people had shown on the way, receiving help and free meals.

• Mrs Barker took this video on her phone

"Ultimately we have been very lucky and we have had so much kindness on the way with people giving us free meals and stuff," she said. "It has been a lot but we have been really lucky."

A British Foreign Office spokesman confirmed a Rapid Deployment Team had arrived on Rhodes to support travel operators in bringing Brits home.

Greek authorities said 19,000 people had been evacuated, with the Ministry of Climate Change and Civil Protection adding it was “the largest evacuation from a wildfire in the country”.

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