Thousands of holidaymakers have been forced to evacuate their hotels on the Greek island of Rhodes, as wildfires raged for a fifth day. Coastguard vessels and more than 30 private boats evacuated at least 2,000 people from beaches close to the areas of Kiotari and Lardos in the southeastern part of the island, coastguard spokesman Nikos Alexiou said. Long queues of tourists were videoed walking with their luggage along a road as part of an evacuation operation, while smoke could be seen in the background. Those evacuated are being housed at an indoor stadium and at hotels on the island, said Konstantinos Taraslias, a deputy mayor of Rhodes. Three passenger ferries were also committed to host tourists during the night, the coastguard said. The wildfire had been confined to the island’s mountainous centre, but aided by winds, high temperatures and dry conditions, it began to spread more widely on Saturday. Local media reported the fires had reached three hotels, which had already been evacuated. Tourists told how they had been forced to walk for hours in the searing heat to try and escape the smoke. Fire Service spokesperson Yannis Artopios said on Saturday afternoon that residents of four localities were sent SMS messages to evacuate – in two places they were told to move to the northeast and in two others to the southwest. Tourists posted videos of their evacuations on social media, as they described the scenes and the experiences of their families. “Currently stranded in Rhodes escaping the wildfires on foot – left everything at the hotel and fled with towels across our faces”, said Paul Kalburgi on Twitter. “My youngest just told me he doesn’t want to die. Terrifying situation here.” Another Twitter user, John Hughes, said he “had to walk four miles in the heat across dirt tracks in smoke and ash with a five year old. No possessions”. Nikita Bassi tweeted: “Arrived in Rhodes this morning to be told that wild fires have spread throughout and our hotel has been evacuated. No hotels anywhere for us to go and now looking for a flight home as news says the fires are getting worse around Greece. “600/700 people from the evacuated hotels are coming to this one hotel and are having to sleep in the lobby and outside on the sun beds. This is honestly crazy. I can’t believe this is happening”. Becky Mulligan, a British tourist on Rhodes, told the BBC that she was evacuated from her hotel with her sister and daughter, but was now stuck on a beach alongside hundreds of others. “There’s just a small shack here and there’s so many of us,” seh said. “There’s children, it’s the middle of the day, we are just stuck here with no help, it’s disgusting.” Another tourist, Simon Wheatley told the broadcaster that his hotel had initially said the situations was “normal and there was no need to worry”. His hotel was subsequently evacuated. “We saw that a beach bar that we were at just the day before had burnt down. The smoke was so bad. We had to leave two bags of luggage”, he said. Another holidaymaker, James Hall, told Sky News: “It was quite a bit of madness this morning. We noticed smoke and ash coming down and we got the government text, pretty much telling us to evacuate. “And we walked south, as far as we could… We dragged our suitcases for two hours in the 40-degree heat.” He said that he was worried he would miss his plane home, adding: “Honestly it was bizarre, if you are in a wheelchair or on crutches, the chances of you getting out in a timely manner was almost nil. “We got instruction to go to the beach but we decided to keep walking. The sheer volume of smoke I don’t imagine it’s particularly safe right now.” Jet2, a budget airline that flies multiple daily flights from the UK to Rhodes during the summer, told The Independent that it was working to support tourists on the ground. “We are aware of the fast-moving situation in Rhodes, and our in-resort teams are working to comply with the guidance of local authorities”, a spokesperson said. “The health, safety and well-being of our customers will always be our number one priority and we ask any customers in affected areas to follow the advice of the local authorities, or their hoteliers who will be acting under the advice of the authorities.” A spokesperson for travel company Tui, which organises package holidays to Rhodes, told The Independent that they are “aware of wildfires in the south of Rhodes and are monitoring the situation closely. “A number of hotels have been impacted and our resort teams are working with the local authorities and following their advice to relocate impacted customers”, added the spokesperson “Our main priority is always the safety of our customers and we will proactively be in touch with anyone due to travel who’s holiday is affected”. Fire Service spokesperson Yannis Artopios added that more than 200 firefighters and 40 fire engines were operating on the ground, assisted by three planes and five helicopters. The force includes 31 firefighters from Slovakia, with five fire engines. “The situation in Rhodes is serious and extremely difficult. Due to the strong wind and quickly changing direction of the fire, firefighters had to withdraw and move,” Slovak Fire and Rescue Services said on Facebook. The main front of the fire is a triangle, with two of its points near the sea and one in the mountains. On maps, each side of the triangle appears more than six miles long. Three coast guard vessels, plus one from the army, were evacuating people from two beaches. Twenty private boats were also assisting, and the Greek navy was sending a vessel. The blaze in Rhodes is the most fearsome of several blazes ongoing around Greece. The fire northwest of Athens and one near Sparta were subsiding, said Mr Artopios, although weather conditions, including temperatures set to reach 45C on Sunday and low humidity, mean there is a risk more wildfires might break out. The Fire Service has designated almost the whole eastern part of the mainland, plus the islands of Evia and Rhodes, as well as large swathes of the southwest, as category five, the highest for the risk of fire outbreaks on Sunday. There will be a brief respite in the heatwave on Monday, but it will resume on Tuesday and could last until at least Friday, meteorologists have said. Firefighting forces from eight EU countries are either operating or due to arrive soon, Mr Artopios said. Israel, Jordan and Turkey have also sent reinforcements, mostly aerial equipment. 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A journalist who was once banned from a White House event for asking awkward questions about Vladimir Putin is moderating an event featuring a man facing legal jeopardy who lied about the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, in a town hall aired on the cable news network he blamed for publishing fake news. We’re talking about CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins and Donald Trump, who of course wants to be president once again, in his first time back on the news network he has spent years disparaging. On Wednesday night the pair broadcast from a New Hampshire liberal arts college, where Mr Trump faced questions from Collins and an audience of 400 Republican and centrist voters during primetime on CNN. Collins became known to most in her previous role as CNN’s White House correspondent. She delivered breaking news from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in a commanding, confident tone throughout the Trump presidency, fast becoming a familiar face onscreen and known as a political authority. Born in Alabama to a family she has previously described as “apolitical”, Collins graduated from Alabama University in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism, moving into the field shortly afterwards. After spending two years working on the entertainment desk of The Daily Caller, the outlet founded by Tucker Carlson in 2010, Collins moved over to become the website’s White House correspondent, having also covered the 2016 election for the outlet. “The day [Mr Trump] was inaugurated was my first day covering the White House, and it was obviously an adventure that started that day,” she said in an interview with In Style magazine. “We had no idea what was ahead of us.” In 2017, she joined CNN’s politics team, becoming their White House correspondent – a role that saw her clash with then-president Trump and his press secretaries on multiple occasions. Indeed, one such occasion in 2018 saw her barred from a White House press event after asking supposedly “inappropriate” questions about topics including Russian president Vladimir Putin during Mr Trump’s meeting with European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker. “They said, ‘You are dis-invited from the press availability in the Rose Garden today,’” Collins told CNN at the time. “They said that the questions I asked were inappropriate for that venue. And they said I was shouting.” Her line of questioning often didn’t hit well with the Trump White House, who unofficially declared war on CNN during Mr Trump’s 2016 campaign and White House term, and she was once described by then-press secretary Kayleigh McEnany as an “activist”. Yet for all her “inappropriate” questions and CNN affiliation, Collins appears to have escaped the former president’s scathing online attacks that many of her colleagues have been subject to – suggesting she is far better placed than others to take point at the town hall. Indeed, she is thought to have been offered the role thanks in large part to her experience interviewing the former president. “He wants to intimidate and bully [the press] so you don’t ask him what he doesn’t want to get asked about. You have to remember to focus on the question and get an answer. Being banned by him really prepared me for that,” she told In Style regarding previous interviews with Mr Trump. More recently, in September 2022, Collins moved over to host CNN This Morning with Don Lemon and Poppy Harlow as part of a major shake-up of the network’s schedule by incoming CEO Chris Licht. The transition was far from smooth. Lemon parted ways with CNN in April amid a furore over sexist comments on air, but not before he had reportedly screamed at Collins off-air, leaving her in tears. There may be more big changes ahead for Collins as just hours before the New Hampshire town hall, Dyland Byers of Puck News reported that Licht plans to offer Collins a new contract to serve as the host of the network’s 9pm primetime hour. The move could be announced as early as next week as CNN continues its pivot towards a more centrist posture. “Kaitlan’s offer is not contingent on her performance at tonight’s town hall, but, given the Trump X-factor, those 90 minutes have the potential to modify, accelerate, or stifle the arc of her career,” Byers said. “At the very least, her performance tonight will set the tone for a new Collins era at CNN, which, barring any f***-ups, will run at least through the 2024 presidential election.” There is always pressure on town hall moderators to keep things on course as there are many moving parts to such a format. In this case, the subject answering questions — Mr Trump — has just been found liable for sexual abuse and faces a multitude of other legal woes and investigations ranging from alleged financial irregularities and election interference to his role in the events surrounding the Capitol riot on 6 January 2021. As a journalist on the rise, Collins has had to deal with controversy and challenging situations before during her time at CNN. However, Wednesday’s town hall — which generated a significant backlash over whether it’s appropriate to platform Mr Trump — was perhaps her biggest test to date and something of a potential crossroads for the network, her career, and the Oval Office prospects of Mr Trump. Regarding the pressure she was under ahead of the broadcast, one Washington insider said: “Kaitlan has big brass ones, she should do a good job.” On Wednesday night, Collins had an impossible task of trying to push back against a tsunami of falsehoods as Mr Trump steamrolled over her fact checks and objections, and refused to answer some questions directly as the audience cheered and laughed with him. In an especially combative moment regarding why he wouldn’t return classified material to the government, he called her a “nasty person”. She remained unphased and continued to press him on the matter and rounded out the town hall in a more interrogative way than she began, asking about Mr Trump’s interference in the 2020 election in Georgia, and whether he would accept the result of the 2024 election. There were earlier moments in which Twitter users howled at the lack of any pushback from Collins, including one completely false statement from Trump about abortion in the ninth month of pregnancy or even after birth. Collins had strong moments, at one point forcefully challenging Mr Trump: “The election was not rigged, Mr President. You cannot keep saying that all night long.” Much of the criticism was less about Collins’s performance and more about using a format that makes it extremely difficult to fact-check in real-time, as well as having an overly friendly audience. The overall decision to offer Mr Trump airtime to spout disinformation has been the main point of anger. It remains to be seen how or whether Wednesday’s broadcast will impact Collins professionally. Reporters who know her from her time in Washington tweeted their support and lauded her journalistic abilities, and as Byers wrote, her prospects are not contingent on her performance. Most fury is directed at CNN which has been condemned as “shameful” for allowing the “disastrous” broadcast to go ahead and give Mr Trump a platform from which to spread falsehoods. Justin Baragona of The Daily Beast reported that a CNN on-air personality told him: “It is so bad. I was cautiously optimistic despite the criticism. It is awful. It’s a Trump infomercial. We’re going to get crushed.” Podcaster and author Wajahat Ali tweeted: “Kaitlan Collins was placed in an impossible situation by CNN leadership. She did well considering the circumstances. But set up to fail. Shameful stuff by Licht and Zaslav.” Earlier, in response to the “nasty person” barb from Mr Trump, Ali wrote: “Congrats, Chris Licht and CNN leadership. Bravo. What a way to treat your employees.” Matthew Gertz of Media Matters for America wrote: “The venue for CNN's Trump town hall will be ‘filled with about 400 voters who are Republicans or Republican-leaning independents.’ I've never seen a network try this hard to get their own anchor booed live on their own airwaves.” Read More CNN Trump town hall — live: Kaitlan Collins prepares to face Trump as calls grow to boycott network over event Cheney launches anti-Trump ad ahead of ex-president’s CNN town hall Trump appearing at CNN town hall after sex assault verdict CNN sparks fury with Trump’s ‘volcano of bulls***’ town hall where he repeats Big Lie and gives Putin a pass Disastrous Trump town hall begs the question: What was CNN thinking? 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Donald Trump is marking his 77th birthday on Wednesday as the first current or former president arrested on federal criminal charges in American history. On Tuesday, Mr Trump pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in a Miami federal courthouse on 37 charges over his handling of classified national security documents after leaving the White House. Miami officials had braced for protests outside the courthouse but much of the Maga army of supporters failed to show up as expected. One anti-Trump protester jumped in front of the former president’s motorcade. Mr Trump then flew back to his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, where he gave a speech launching into his usual unsubstantiated narrative that he is the victim of political persecution. His 2024 campaign raked in $2.1m from the event and another $4.5m in small online donations. The speech was widely lambasted by critics for its litany of falsehoods while also offering a possible preview of his roughshod defence to the charges against him. Meanwhile, former vice president Mike Pence told CNBC that having reviewed the indictment, he “cannot defend what is alleged” by prosecutors, as more former Trump allies appear to change their tune. Read More Desperate deflections, revenge plans – and a supplicant Fox News: What we learned from Trump speech Defiant Trump accuses ‘corrupt’ Biden of undermining democracy with ‘evil and heinous’ federal charges Trump addresses reason he refused to give back boxes saying they contained ‘shoes and shirts and everything’ Tucker Carlson blasts ‘filthy and decadent’ Trump aides who exploited his need for flattery