After Rhodes, it is the turn of another tourist island to be strongly affected by forest fires. For the past few days, Tenerife has been experiencing a situation that is impressive to say the least, with more than 2,600 hectares going up in smoke in a wooded area near the El Teide volcano. The president of the government of the archipelago, Fernando Clavijo, spoke of the most complicated fire in the Canary Islands for at least 40 years.
These forest fires mainly concern the north of the island, which is less touristy. We are therefore not witnessing, for the time being, the same chaos as in Rhodes. Tour operators are not obliged to launch large repatriation plans and hotels located in the south of the island are operating normally.
For its part, the FPS Foreign Affairs is aware of the presence of around forty Belgians near the fire in Tenerife but has not yet received a request for assistance, spokesman Wouter Poels told Belga. .
The forest fire continues its course north of Tenerife: “This fire is probably the most complicated we have had in the Canary Islands…”
Foreign Affairs asks Belgians to report their trip abroad via the Travelers Online platform. This recording allows the FPS to inform travelers more easily and assist them if necessary.
Enough to intervene quickly, when we know that thousands (3,800) of local inhabitants had to be evacuated in the area concerned. However, not all the Belgian tourists present on the spot have an idyllic holiday. “We have no news from TUI so far, while I can see the wildfire from the balcony where I am sitting. And please don’t say there are no tourists here, I can assure you that there are. We were dropped off in the north, along with other customers, by a bus belonging to TUI”, explained in the columns of HLN, Cindy, a Flemish tourist.
For its part, TUI wanted to calm things down and reassure. “Tourists were able to see the flames because the fire started on a mountain, but the hotel was thirty kilometers from the wildfire“, according to him.
Frédéric did not have a view of the mountains on fire but still saw one of the consequences of this natural disaster. “We are far enough from the area of the fire, but the whole island is impacted by the smoke and ashes which hide the sky”, he comments. In addition, many activities are canceled or postponed in recent days, which forces tourists to stay in resorts.
Fire in Tenerife: around 40 Belgians are near the burning area
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