Family's horror Rhodes holiday after wildfires forced them to flee without money, passports or family heart 1

SWNS 2023-07-25

Views 3K

A family have told of their horror holiday in Rhodes after they spotted smoke from wildfires while they were relaxing around the pool.

Mum-of-two Jaynina Andrews, 37, was in Lindos, Rhodes, with her family for her brother's wedding on a three-night package holiday with EasyJet.

Jaynina and children Jaydan, 11, and Phoebe, seven, were relaxing by the pool when they began to smell smoke and see thick clouds.

Jaynina and her children had to sprint across a beach before being bundled into a boat - without money or passports - after the wildfires struck.

They left the rest of their family behind in the commotion and "feared [they ] had died".

After a night on the floor of a sports hall, they finally made it home.

The housekeeper from Croydon, south London, said: "Everything seemed fine until hotel staff started shouting for us to 'get out, get out'.

"We didn't understand the severity at first - then people started running and panicking and my children thought we were going to die.

"All the locals who had boats came to take people to safety - my children and I were bundled into a boat.

"When we were dropped off at another beach, we were told the beach where we left our family behind had been destroyed by the fire.

"I thought my whole family was dead - but I had to stay strong for my children.

"We ended up reunited and it turned out everyone had got out safely - eventually we got home safely.

"Once we got back, I just sobbed because it hit me that we could have died."

Jaynina and the family flew out to Lindos on July 18 ahead of the wedding the next day.

Despite seeing news stories online about the wildfires nearby, they didn't begin to panic until two days after the wedding, when they smelled smoke.

They were supposed to be flying home on July 22, so they were enjoying their last full day by the pool at the Lindos Imperial Hotel.

But at lunchtime staff began ushering them out as clouds of smoke blew overhead and the sun appeared "glowing red".

Jaynina said: "When we got outside we were told to go to the beach with hundreds of others.

"We had to cover our mouths and noses because of the smoke - our eyes were streaming.

"At the beach people started shouting to run - everyone was really panicking at this point.

"We had nothing with us, no money or passports, and I was thinking to myself 'what happens now then?'

"When someone told me to get into a boat, I just went into pure survival mode."

They didn't even have time to say goodbye to the rest of their family before the boat sped off to safety, dropping them at Lardos Beach some distance away, before returning to collect more people.

Jaynina feared the rest of her family were dead when someone announced the beach they left behind had "been destroyed".

She said: "My kids were asking what had happened to the family.

"I was trying to act like I wasn't scared, but I honestly thought I would have no family left at this point."

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