Thousands of people have been rescued from the beaches of the Greek island of Rhodes, where a fire has been raging out of control for five days.
Three coast guard patrol boats have been joined by more than 20 private vessels in the emergency evacuation, while a Greek Navy vessel is heading towards the area.
According to the Greek coastguard, the people were taken from the beaches of Kiotari and Lardos, east of the Mediterranean island popular with tourists.
According to Ert TV, some firefighters were stranded in the Ypseni monastery near Lardos after trying to persuade the nuns who lived there to leave the area.
Deputy fire chief Yannis Artapoios said the fire in Rhodes, which broke out on a mountain in the center of the island, was the most difficult fire brigade forces had to deal with.
Five helicopters and 173 firefighters operate in the area. Three hotels in the Kiotari area were damaged in the fire and thirty buses were used to evacuate tourists from two hotels as a precaution.
The battle to put out the fire of Rhodes continues in the area of Laermon and Lardos, where it rages out of control.
(Unioneonline/lf)