Crete Hotel Confused Over Rapp Claims Sea ‘Closed’ During Kabul Crisis

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Hotel owners and meteorologists in Crete say they were baffled by Dominic Raab’s claim that he could not have paddle boarding on holiday while Kabul fell because the sea was “locked”.

The foreign minister denied reports he had seen him swim and paddle board on the last day of his vacation on the Greek island.

He faced severe criticism for not returning when the situation in Afghanistan began to deteriorate and the Taliban took control of Kabul.

“The stuff about me relaxing on the beach all day is just nonsense,” he told Sky News. “The stuff about me paddling is nonsense. The sea was already closed, it was a red flyer.”

But Lina Michalaki, whose GDM Island hotel is located in Kato Gouves, is a short walk from the luxury resort where Mr. Raab stayed with his family, told The Independent: “As far as we know, no beaches are closed. The beach in front of the hotel is open. to the public all summer long.

“There has been no problem in Crete all season that may have been a reason to close the beaches,” she added.

Greek meteorologist Theodoris Kolidas said: “We did not have any major climatic phenomena in Crete between August 12 and 15. The winds were northerly, with a maximum of 6 to 7 Beaufort. [25-38mph] The weather was cloudy locally.”

And Alexandros Runiotis, whose website for Cretan beaches lists information on the sandy stretches of the island, went further: “No beaches were closed. Only some gorges during the big fires, but no beaches.”

A Raab administration official later noted that the minister was pointing to red flags warning of strong currents at “the beach” – but he was unable to determine if this was the beach at his resort.

Asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today program about allegations that his department had asked him to go home on Friday 13 August, Mr. Raab said: “The officials didn’t ask me. I wasn’t directed home.”

He continued, “I won’t add any more speculation in the media. What I can say is that since that time I’ve been engaged from a hotel room, my family was on the beach, not me. I casually check them out, but the idea that I’ve been hanging out on the beach is just Bullshit.

“I was in a hotel room, participating in the Cobra programme, running and working with my emergency response team, talking to the Director and General Manager, and reaching out to international partners.”

With the benefit of hindsight, Raab said, he wouldn’t have gone on vacation during the unfolding crisis.

He said, “If I’m the Secretary of State, I travel all the time for business purposes, and I always need to be able to control crises that arise, and that’s what we’ve been doing.” We could have gone back earlier, but we were all surprised by the scale and pace of the breakdown of the situation.”

A FCO spokesperson said: “As we have consistently said, the Secretary of State has been overseeing the FCDO’s response to the situation in Afghanistan throughout, including engaging with international partners and directing the FCDO’s Emergency Response Center.”

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