After thousands of Britons were rescued from fire-ravaged parts of Rhodes, the government has updated its advice for holidaymakers.

While the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) does not officially advise against travel to the island, it advises anyone planning to travel to areas affected by wildfires to check with their tour operator.

One way people in areas at increased risk of wildfires can protect themselves, according to the government, is to activate emergency alerts on their mobile phones.

What is the updated advice?

If you are in or near areas affected by wildfires, the government advises you to follow the instructions of local emergency services.

In the case of Greece, holidaymakers should call the Greek emergency services on 112 if they are in immediate danger and contact their airline or tour operator, who can assist them with their return journey to the UK.

The government also recommends activating the “Emergency Alerts” option on your phone to receive the Greek government’s emergency alerts.

How to set up emergency alerts for your vacation

Owners of an Apple iPhone should go to the device settings and then tap “Notifications”.

You should then scroll down to enable the “Emergency Alerts” option at the bottom.

Anyone running Android 11 or higher should tap the Settings option and then tap Notifications.

Watch: Mother tells of her family’s ‘terrible’ escape from fire-ravaged Rhodes

Here, click on “Advanced Settings” and enable the “Wireless Emergency Alerts” option.

On Samsung devices, go to Settings, then Apps, Messages, and Notifications before tapping Emergency Alerts.

Users can then enable the Emergency Alerts option.

How many Brits are still on Rhodes?

An estimated 10,000 Britons are in Rhodes, according to the British Foreign Office, and the Times reports that 30,000 people are expected to head there in the next few weeks.

Thousands have already been rescued and repatriation flights landed in the UK overnight.

Do tour operators still fly customers to Rhodes?

Many travel companies continued to fly Britons to the Greek island and stated that large parts of the island were unaffected.

But tour operators continued to cancel flights and trips, which meant that the holiday plans of thousands could have been ruined.

According to the consumer protection organisation Which?, some travel companies have “dragged the matter” and given holidaymakers the choice of either travelling to a natural disaster area or losing money.

Holidaymakers planning to visit the island in the coming weeks are urged not to cancel now as they may not receive a refund.

Thomas Cook said holidaymakers who “so wish” will continue to arrive in other parts of the island, while EasyJet said it had only cancelled package holidays to the affected areas of the island.

Travel company Jet2 said it had cancelled all flights and holidays to Rhodes until Sunday and around 1,000 Britons from the affected areas had either flown home or moved to hotels in unaffected parts of the island.

Tui had operated five repatriation flights by Tuesday morning and cancelled all flights to Rhodes up to and including Friday. For those who travelled to the affected hotels before and on Sunday, their holiday trips were cancelled.