Greece relies on its tourism industry. But intense heatwaves, which have led to wildfires across the country, are making life a misery for thousands of staff who have to work outside – and killing some of them
Andreas Mallis leans into the smoke and winces from the heat, sweat bursting from his forehead and running down his nose. The 57-year-old boat-tour operator blows on the embers of a fire and carefully turns strips of squid on a grill he hauled from his boat on to shore in the midday sun on the hottest day of the hottest summer Greece has seen in 50 years.
A group of tourists that Mallis deposited on a rug under a large juniper tree discuss the wildfires ravaging Greek islands as they wait for their lunch. On Rhodes, Crete, Evia and Corfu, thousands of tourists are being evacuated from their holidays, with forests destroyed and hotels scorched.
Mallis takes tourists out on his boat
