Hundreds of tourists stranded at Kos island airport as quake delays flights

Record ID: 903626

  • Title: Hundreds of tourists stranded at Kos island airport as quake delays flights
  • Date: 21st July 2017
  • Summary: KOS, GREECE (JULY 21, 2017) (REUTERS) TOURISTS CONGREGATED OUTSIDE KOS AIRPORT MAN SITTING INSIDE A TENT WITH A PRAM IN CAR PARK TOURISTS SAT IN CAR PARK WITH LUGGAGE TOURISTS SITTING ON BENCHES WITH FEET PROPPED UP ON THEIR LUGGAGE TOURISTS CONGREGATED NEXT TO TERMINAL BUILDING WITH LUGGAGE TOURISTS SITTING ON BENCH WITH FEET PROPPED UP ON THEIR LUGGAGE TOURISTS CONGREGATED NEXT TO TERMINAL BUILDING WITH LUGGAGE TOURISTS CONGREGATED OUTSIDE AIRPORT, MAN LYING IN THE SHADE (SOUNDBITE) (English) TOURIST FROM ITALY, FROSSANA AMIRATI, SAYING: "Everything was shaking, the television just fell down, and it was really... for twenty seconds it was something... ooh, really shocking, and everybody ran away from the room, we went out of the hotel and we spent all night long out, and we just tried to sleep, with covers, it was really something. It was strong, it was quite strong." TOURISTS LAYING ON FLOOR SLEEPING OUTSIDE AIRPORT (SOUNDBITE) (English) TOURIST FROM ITALY, FROSSANA AMIRATI, SAYING: "So my flight is supposed to be at ten, but I guess will be some delay of course, because you can see it's a disaster." TOURISTS CONGREGATED OUTSIDE NEXT TO TERMINAL BUILDING (SOUNDBITE) (English) TOURIST FROM HOLLAND, JARA, AGED 26, SAYING: "It was terrible, we lie in bed, and then our bed shaking from the left to the right, our hotel was going, everything was going crazy, so we went down and everywhere was water, every stuff was broken, and glass was on the floor, bottles on the floor, everything." TOURISTS OUTSIDE THE AIRPORT, MAN SLEEPING ON THE GROUND BEHIND HIS LUGGAGE. (SOUNDBITE) (English) TOURIST FROM HOLLAND, JARA, AGED 26, SAYING: "It was scary, yeah, in Holland we never have one so this was our first time, and we didn't know what happened, so we were very scared, yes." (SOUNDBITE) (English) TOURIST VERNON HEUSMAN FROM GERMANY SAYING: "All of a sudden it felt like a train was going right through the room, boom, and I told my son looks like an earthquake let's get the hell out of here. So we opened the door, we wanted to get out, and there was some water coming down the stairs, because the pool was like, you know, there was water just shooting out of the pool, so the rest of the night we spend outside in front of the hotel." TOURISTS CONGREGATED IN CAR PARK (SOUNDBITE) (English) TOURIST VERNON HEUSMAN FROM GERMANY SAYING: "The only thing that is more or less negative is that we don't receive any information about incoming flights, outgoing flights, etcetera, and of course we are all stuck in the heat. Fortunately we are all getting a little bit of water once and a while." AIRPORT OFFICIALS HANDING OUT WATER BOTTLES TO TOURISTS TOURISTS HELPING THEMSELVES TO WATER BOTTLES TOURISTS SITTING NEXT TO TERMINAL BUILDING WITH LUGGAGE TOURISTS SITTING ON THE GROUND PLAYING CARDS VARIOUS OF TOURISTS SITTING OUTSIDE AIRPORT TODDLER SITTING IN STROLLER HOLDING A WATER BOTTLE
  • Embargoed: 4th August 2017 11:35
  • Keywords: Kos island airport earthquake damage going home tourists everything was shaking
  • Location: KOS, GREECE
  • City: KOS, GREECE
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: Disaster/Accidents,Earthquakes/Volcanoes/Tsunami
  • Reuters ID: LVA0016QNV0P3
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Hundreds of tourists were left stranded at the airport on the Greek island of Kos on Friday (July 21) after an earthquake caused delays in outgoing flights.
    Tourists waited in long queues, stretched out on benches or slept on the ground in the parking lot, as airport officials handed out bottles of water. They spoke of their ordeal of when the earthquake struck, with one man saying it felt like a train going through his hotel room.
    Airport officials said in a statement that delays were minor and operations would normalize throughout the day, after ensuring that all necessary actions were taken to ensure flight safety and checks for damages on the runway and facilities. Officials said there had been no injuries or serious damage to the airport, and areas with any minor damage have been repaired.
    A Turkish and a Swedish tourist, aged 39 and 22 years, died when the earthquake struck at 1:31am (2231 GMT) and the roof of a popular bar collapsed, Greek police said. Kos's port was put out of action and, across the strait in Bodrum, a small tsunami damaged vehicles parked near the shore. Around 200 people were injured, including tourists of various nationalities. Many of Kos's tourists spent the night in the open as a precaution, hotel owners said.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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