British holiday hotspot cloaked by Saharan dust cloud as deadly storms hit island

The dust storm has reduced visibility and caused dramatic scenes in Crete, turning the usually blue sky into shades of red and orange.

Flights landing at Heraklion airport were delayed and diverted to alternative airports.

One resident of Heraklion, Sandra Kypriotaki, told The Telegraph: "It was apocalyptic, it was like something out of a Mad Max movie. The whole thing was really weird.

“I’ve never seen it this bad. The sky went yellow, and then it went orange, and then it turned blood red. You could hardly believe the colours were real. Our eyes were itchy, and we could feel that we were inhaling dust. The schools are closed, so the kids are at home."

Health authorities on Crete have issued a warning that the high concentrations of dust particles could cause breathing difficulties, particularly for young children, elderly people and those who suffer from conditions such as asthma.

In Santorini, skies have turned blood red and bright orange, with major disruption caused on the island.

Other parts of Greece have been severely impacted as Storm Erminio batters the east of the Mediterranean.

Greek authorities have recovered the body of a man in the seaside holiday town of Nea Makri, 35 kilometres northeast of Athens.

The man was believed to have been carried away by a torrent and trapped under a car as he attempted to cross a flooded street, local media reported.

The fire brigade said it has received hundreds of calls to rescue people trapped in floodwater and help clear roads of fallen trees as the Erminio storm swept through Athens and several islands in the Aegean Sea on Wednesday.

Early today, crews were still removing debris, pumping water from flooded buildings and repairing damaged infrastructure east of the capital.

Authorities also banned some ferries from sailing from the port of Piraeus to the Greek islands.

Most of Greece’s ferries, a key transport link for islands in the Aegean and Ionian seas, were confined to port yesterday.

The Hellenic National Meteorological Service has warned more "severe weather" for today in most parts of the country, warning of "prolonged and intense rain and thunderstorms, and possibly localised hailstorms". The stormy weather is expected to ease slightly tomorrow.

At least 18 people were killed when an inflatable boat carrying migrants sank off Turkey's western province of Mugla the coastguard said in a statement, adding that search and rescue efforts continued in the area.

The coastguard said the boat, with an outboard motor, was detected at 3am off the coast of Mugla's Bodrum district, and that it tried to flee despite repeated warnings to stop.

The boat later took in water due to adverse weather and sea conditions in the area and sank, it added.

A coastguard helicopter and three boats were dispatched to the area for search and rescue operations, the coastguard said, adding that they had rescued 21 people so far.

The statement did not say where the boat had departed from or where it was heading.

The Aegean Sea is a frequent transit route for thousands of migrants attempting to cross from North Africa and the Middle East into Europe, particularly from Turkey, which hosts millions of refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.