There has been a major rekindling of the fire in the south of the island of Rhodes, fire brigade spokesperson Vasilis Vathrakogiannis announced in an emergency update on Monday.

"All the forces of civil protection are operating incessantly on all the fire fronts," Vathrakogiannis said, saying that the flames had rekindled near the village Asklipio and were moving south.

Strong fire fighting forces were operating on the ground, while eight airplanes were operating periodically in the broader area of the fire, of which two were from Turkey and one from Croatia, along with 10 helicopters, of which two were from Egypt and another two served a coordinating role, he said.

Regarding the fire that started on the island of Corfu on Sunday afternoon near Loutses, Vathrakogiannis said this had spread rapidly and threatened villages in the northeast of the island. He stressed that 17 villages were evacuated through successive messages via the 112 emergency number and 2,466 people taken to safety, with the assistance of the Hellenic Police, the Ionian Islands Region and the coast guard, as well as a fire brigade ship.

"It is worth noting that no damage to houses has been reported so far," the spokesperson said, adding that strong firefighting forces were operating against the Corfu fire, including reinforcements sent from the mainland and four planes and three helicopters that joined the fray at first light.

Regarding the fire that began on Sunday in the southern tip of Evia near the settlement Platanistos, Vathrakogiannis said that this started burning low vegetation with the help of strong winds and quickly spread, taking a course toward the villages of Livadi, Potami, Pernaraki, Platanistos, Kastri and Platys Gialos, which were all evacuated through a 112 message.

In addition to strong firefighting forces on the ground, three airplanes and two helicopters were operating from the air, he added.