The safe and untroubled evacuation of at least 19,000 people, many of them foreign nationals, away from the burning wildfires at the island of Rhodes with the help of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, was “the biggest-ever operation to evacuate foreign nationals in Greek territory,” Greek diplomatic sources said on Monday, ANA reports.
The ministry moved fast and in a coordinated manner to contribute to handling the emergency situation, it was added.
The ministry’s Crises Management Unit was activated on Saturday by order of Greek Foreign Affairs Minister George Gerapetritis and has been operating on a 24-hour basis with 3 helplines (210-3681730, 3681-1350, 3681-1259).
So far the ministry has received some 2,500 calls from foreign visitors which mostly concern the facilitation of their communication with embassies, transportation to temporary accommodation, and information about leaving Rhodes. Help with replacing lost travel documents was also provided, it was noted.
Besides a help desk set up at the Rhodes International Airport, the ministry has set up a desk at the Civil Protection headquarters, where embassy attachés have been tasked with writing, editing, and translating press releases that are being sent to international news agencies, including the BBC.
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