Damaged hotel sends tourists back home, Kos islanders fear further tremors

Record ID: 903589

  • Title: Damaged hotel sends tourists back home, Kos islanders fear further tremors
  • Date: 21st July 2017
  • Summary: KOS, GREECE (JULY 21, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SUN SETTING BEHIND MOUNTAIN / SEA VARIOUS OF TOURISTS WHOSE HOLIDAY WAS CUT SHORT AFTER THEIR HOTEL WAS DAMAGED DURING EARTHQUAKE, WAITING TO BE TRANSFERRED BY BUSES TO ANOTHER HOTEL VARIOUS OF CRACKED AND DAMAGED HOTEL WALLS VARIOUS OF HOTEL GUESTS SITTING IN CHAISE-LONGUES IN HOTEL GARDEN MAN AND CHILD LYING ON GARDEN CHAISE LONGUE COVERED BY HOTEL BED LINEN VARIOUS OF TOURISTS WAITING FOR BUSES TO ARRIVE OUTSIDE DAMAGED HOTEL (SOUNDBITE)(English) TOURIST FROM BELGIUM, FABRICE CAYART, SAYING: "And now we have no choice. We have tried to find solution with them, to give us another hotel, equivalent to this, we can't, we have no hotel (they tell us) and now suddenly, they find hotels for everybody, two-person (rooms), and they say now we quit the hotel and tomorrow you take the plane to Frankfurt and it's finished." TOURIST FROM SAUDI ARABIA, SALIM AHMED, REACTING TO LEAVING KOS EARLY (SOUNDBITE) (English) TOURIST FROM SAUDI ARABIA, SALIM AHMED, SAYING: "We, nature, we exposed to earthquake, this is accident, could be happen everywhere, but somebody should care for you, should deal with what happened after the stress, we are afraid here to die. Nobody just put his hand like this, OK, you are OK." KOS, GREECE (JULY 21, 2017) (REUTERS) (NIGHT SHOTS) VARIOUS OF KOS RESIDENTS SITTING ON BLANKETS ON THE GROUND BY TENTS AT A SMALL PARK (SOUNDBITE)(Greek) KOS RESIDENT, GERASIMOS MATHAIOS, SAYING: "Today I managed to sleep for an hour and a half inside on a couch, but I won't go and sleep inside. I'll stay awake. Or fall asleep in my chair." KOS RESIDENT, KOSTAS KANELLIS, SITTING ON BLANKET HE PLANS TO SPEND THE NIGHT ON KANELLIS PREPARING HIS BED ON THE GROUND (SOUNDBITE)(Greek) KOS RESIDENT, KOSTAS KANELLIS, SAYING: "(I will stay outside) for at least for 48 hours. Until the seismologists say it's safe." CHILDREN LYING ON BLANKETS IN THE PARK
  • Embargoed: 4th August 2017 22:07
  • Keywords: damage hotel tourists Kos earthquake
  • Location: KOS, GREECE
  • City: KOS, GREECE
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: Disaster/Accidents,Earthquakes/Volcanoes/Tsunami
  • Reuters ID: LVA0016QNWVUV
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS NIGHT SHOTS
    Some tourists on the Greek island of Kos were forced to cut their holidays short on Friday (July 21) after a powerful earthquake damaged the hotel they were staying in and tour operators had nowhere else to accommodate them.
    The tremor caused the deaths of two tourists in the early hours of Friday, when the roof of a popular bar collapsed.
    The unlucky tour group arrived on the island just hours before the quake struck and sent them running outdoors, after the hotel they were staying in suffered structural damages. They said the tour operator they had signed up with was sending them back to home early and with only a partial refund, telling them "tomorrow you take the plane to Frankfurt and it's finished."
    Meanwhile, some locals prepared for another night of sleeping outside over fears of further tremors, as aftershocks continued.
    Around 115 people were injured on Kos, including tourists of various nationalities - 12 of them seriously.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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