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Wildfire Smoke Forces Hundreds of Tourists to Flee Bordeaux
🇵🇾 Paraguay /Disasters & Emergencies

Wildfire Smoke Forces Hundreds of Tourists to Flee Bordeaux

From ABC Color · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News From a news agency Context piece
  • Hundreds of tourists are leaving Bordeaux, France, due to smoke from wildfires in the southwest.
  • Many tourists evacuated from campsites and hotels faced difficulties finding transportation and accommodation.
  • The smoke irritates the throat and forces people to wear masks, disrupting holiday plans.

The city of Bordeaux is shrouded in smoke from ongoing wildfires in southwestern France, prompting hundreds of tourists to abandon their holidays. Families with young children and elderly relatives are crowding Bordeaux's train station, seeking any available transport to leave the city. The pervasive smell of burning fills the air, causing throat irritation and forcing many to wear masks.

It's the first time we've wanted to leave a vacation.

— touristdescribing the desire to leave Bordeaux due to wildfire smoke

Many visitors were evacuated from campsites and hotels with little notice. One woman recounted an "odyssey" after being told to pack in ten minutes and then being advised to hitchhike by her campsite. After being picked up by a stranger, she and her family spent five hours navigating traffic jams to reach a shelter, eventually sleeping on the floor of a gymnasium.

We were told to evacuate and pack our bags in ten minutes.

— Stéphanierecalling the sudden evacuation from a campsite

Another German couple, evacuated from a campsite in Biscarrosse, described their children as "nervous" and scared by the unfolding events. They, too, faced hours stuck in traffic with thousands of others trying to flee the affected areas. The smoke, described as a "huge cloud," has disrupted vacation plans and created a sense of urgency to return home.

They told us they couldn't do anything for us, that we should hitchhike.

— Stéphaniedescribing the lack of assistance from her campsite during evacuation
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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