Passengers on a flight from Athens to the island of Rhodes experienced tough moments on Friday night. Due to bad weather and powerful winds, the airplane could not land at “Diagoras” airport on the island.
The crew reportedly made three attempts to land, however, without success.
Ultimately, the Aegean aircraft was forced to return to Athens Airport, reports daily ethnos. “As expected the incident shocked the passengers, who did not reach their destination and found themselves back to Athens,” the daily notes.
Passengers are to flight to Rhodes when the weather conditions allow it.
Also a ferry boat was unable to dock at the port of the islands due to the rough weather conditions. Ferry Blue Star 2 remains off Rhodes until weather conditions allow it to proceed to the port in safety, local newspaper dimokratiki reports Saturday noon.
On board of Blue Star 2 are reportedly 249 passengers, around 50 crew members. The ferry was supposed to dock at Rhodes port at 10 am Saturday. According to latest information, another docking attempt will be tried at 9 pm as winds are currently blowing with 8 Beaufort.
Heavy rainfalls and powerful winds blowing with intensity of 9 Beaufort have been hitting the island since early morning hours of Saturday, especially South-East Rhodes. Authorities urge citizens and visitors to be cautious.
Some streams have been flooded and the waters has reached the villages, notes local daily rodiaki. Flights have been delayed, sea schedules from/to Rhodes have been cancelled. Several villages are reportedly without electricity since Saturday morning.
Later in the afternoon, the rivers flooded the streets in several parts of the island. No problem for some local who was lucky to have a canoe. Watch the video here.
The latest barometric low has been affecting Greece since early Friday, causing problems in various parts of the country.
