He said an operation was ongoing to evacuate about 600 people from beaches in Kiotari and Gennadi towards Plimmiri. Firefighters, backed by air water bombers and reinforcements by Slovakia, struggled with new outbreaks of the wildfire, which was fanned by strong winds. [1/18]A wildfire burns in a forest near Lardos, on the island of Rhodes, Greece, July 22, 2023. It damaged at least three hotels in the seaside village of Kiotari on Saturday, according to the Athens News Agency. Fires are common in Greece but hotter, drier and windy summers have turned the country into a wildfire hotspot in recent years.

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Persons: Nikos Alexiou, Vassilis Vathrakogiannis, Konstantinos Taraslias, Rhodes, Taraslias, Angeliki Koutantou, Frances Kerry, Mike Harrison, Daniel Wallis Organizations: Coastguard, coastguard, Authorities, Firefighters, REUTERS, Athens News Agency, Thomson Locations: ATHENS, Rhodes, Kiotari, Plimmiri, Pefki, Slovakia, Lardos, Greece, Laerma