A REALITY star used his own speedboat to evacuate scores of holidaymakers off beaches as they fled the "out of control" fires raging in Rhodes.
James Kafetzis shared footage of terrified tourists and locals clambering to safety onboard his boat as the sky above them filled with ash and smoke on the popular Greek island.
In a big red speedboat, the Rhodes local helped in the evacuation of those that had fled from burning villages and hotels and raced to the beach to try and escape the fast-moving wildfires.
The footage shows swaths of people lining the beach loaded up with children and luggage as others climb up the bow of his boat.
The previous star of Greece's Survivor TV show declared it was an "SOS" situation on Instagram as he tried to alert the world to the fiery hell raging on his home island.
"This is out of control," the brave sailor said.
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"We are evacuating the world under Mitsis Rodos Maris, my red boat is loading from the beach and taking them to other ships that take them to Kalathos to get on buses to Rhodes."
Earlier today, a horror video surfaced that showed the desperate escape of hundreds of terrified tourists last night who were stranded on a beach after running from the flames.
The footage showed masses of exhausted-looking people hoping to be loaded onto the next boat by the Red Cross.
Greek authorities are saying it is the largest evacuation mission that has ever taken place in the country as they battle with the inferno.
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Over 19,000 people have been forced to move after being threatened by the wildfires, including more than 2,500 ferried straight off beaches.
A British dad-of-four has described his family's hell as they fled the Rhodes inferno in the dead of night.
PE Teacher Daniel Jones had to wade into the ocean neck deep to get his young family onto a pleasure boat to escape the flames.
He described it as: "The scariest moment in my entire life."
"It has been a nightmare, our holiday has been ruined, our kids traumatised," he told The Sun.
"There was still a lot of confusion, it was madness. There were no reps or anyone to tell us what was happening.
"There was a moment where you could clearly see the flames moving closer but there were no boats to escape, I felt completely powerless to protect my family."
Coastguard vessels and dozens of private boats took part in a rescue of over 2,000 tourists and locals from beaches on Saturday late into the night.
British Embassy officials in Athens have urged all Brits to evacuate.
The flames have burned for nearly a week on Rhodes as Greece has been battered by an extended spell of extreme heat that has made it challenging to contain the fast-spreading blaze.
More than 250 firefighters and volunteers fought the blaze during the night, while the air support started early on Sunday as the fires spread.
Extraordinary scenes yesterday showed columns of people carrying their luggage and children on-foot trying to escape.
The fire has scorched swathes of forest and burned down buildings and hotels since breaking out in a mountainous area on Tuesday.
The blaze spread to at least three hotels in the seaside village of Kiotari which caught fire on Saturday.
And the battle has been expected to worsen today, with more whipping winds blasting across the island and fanning the flames.
"The wind is expected to become more intense from 12 to 5 pm, without excluding the possibility that could happen earlier," said fire department spokesman Vassilis Vathrakoyiannis.
“This is not a fire that will be over tomorrow or the day after tomorrow,” he added. “It’ll be troubling us for days.”
The fires during the night reached the village of Laerma and were burning houses and a church there, while many hotels were damaged by the flames that on some occasions even reached the sea.
Firefighters, backed by aircraft that dropped water, battled three fronts on Sunday, setting up firebreaks to prevent flames from spreading to a dense forest or threatening more residential areas.
Fleeing Brits have spent the night in makeshift camps across the island - with young kids forced to sleep on the floor or on mattresses in classrooms and gyms.
It comes as Greece continues to face high temperatures - with forecasts of up to 45C going into next week.
The country also experienced an "insidious and dangerous" heat blast earlier this month with temperatures also soaring to 40C.
Weather experts have declared 2023 an El Niño year - a natural phenomenon that occurs cyclically and causes fluctuations in the global climate.
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The UN’s World Meteorological Organization said it will raise temperatures around the world, and the effect is likely to continue for the rest of the year.
And despite the heat this summer, Europe's record temperature of 48.8C - recorded in 2021 in Sicily - has not been reached and is currently not forecast to be broken.
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