Greece wildfires - live: Jet2 scraps flights as firefighters in race against time to stop inferno spreading

Jet2 has cancelled flights to Rhodes as wildfires tear through the Greek holiday destination for a sixth consecutive day. The Jet2 planes were scheduled to depart from the East Midlands, Leeds Bradford, Manchester, Newcastle and Stansted airports with passengers on board to begin their holidays. But instead those travellers will be offered refunds, while the planes bring back holidaymakers who were due to return. Fire crews are in a race against time to stop the fires spreading further with 21mph (34kph) winds forecast for tomorrow. Thousands of tourists have been forced to flee their hotels and be evacuated off the beach by a fleet of private boats. The fires have been burning for a sixth consecutive day as Rhodes, like many parts of southern Europe, swelters under a prolonged heatwave. British tourists have described being caught up in the “terrifying” ordeal, with the Foreign Office directing UK nationals towards a crisis management unit set up by the Greek authorities. Read More Wildfires on Greek island of Rhodes force thousands of holidaymakers to evacuate From body bags of ice to pavement burn: US grapples with new extreme heat reality Hiker, 71, dies in Death Valley shortly after being asked by reporter why he was braving heat: ‘Why not?’ July 2023 is set to be world’s hottest month in ‘hundreds, if not thousands, of years’