, and in the panic Tui staff initially said they were not able to find Nichols a wheelchair. 'They were saying 'don't take anything, run, run, run' and we had to go immediately,' Annetta told The Telegraph. Tourists queue to get on coaches at the Gennadi Beach on the Aegean Sea Island of Rhodes. 'At one point my husband actually said if you can't get a wheelchair, you leave me here and you go. We effectively had to say our goodbyes.' Just in time, a Tui staff member found an old wheelchair with 'flat tyres' from the hotel basement, Annetta said. Having to say goodbye to her husband, who was diagnosed with Hepatitis C in 1991 after being caught up in the infected blood scandal, was 'extremely distressing', she added. 'There were arguments beyond belief, people shouting and screaming, there were people passed out on the roadside. Nobody knew what to do. We were initially told we were 'safe, don't worry' and to enjoy the holiday.' There has been mixed messaging on the spread and severity of the wildfires. The Nichols family were among thousands of British holidaymakers caught in the chaos of what has become the largest evacuation operation in Greek history. Nearly 20,000 people, many of them tourists, are being evacuated, as the wildfires sweep down from the mountains towards Rhode's south western coastal resorts. Witnesses described scenes that resembled those on the stricken Titanic cruise liner, with orders for women and children to be saved first ignored while people fought one another to save their own luggage. Some families were split up i){kind=link}
Panicked British holidaymakers in Rhodes found themselves in evacuation chaos as they scrambled to escape
When the order came to “run”, Steve Nichols, a wheelchair user, said goodbye to his wife and daughter.
Fires were roaring closer to the Atlantica Dream Resort, a five-star hotel on the island of Rhodes.
Representatives from Tui had first told Steve, 56, Annetta, 51 and their daughter Charlotte, 15, that they were “safe” on their holiday.
But chaos broke out as the blaze lept closer and closer on Saturday night, and in the panic Tui staff initially said they were not able to find Mr Nichols a wheelchair.