'the hotel block was shaking' welsh man caught up in earthquake relives ordeal

STEPHEN BEAUMONT, CURRENTLY HOLIDAYING IN RHODES WITH HIS PARTNER, WAS AWOKEN BY THE DOORS AND WINDOWS OF THEIR ROOM RATTLING 22:44, 03 Jun 2025 A Newport man has described the

"frightening" experience of being caught up in an earthquake whilst on holiday in Greece. Stephen Beaumont is on holiday in Lalysos in Rhodes with his partner. On the fourth-day of

their trip, the 61-year-old explained how they were awoken by their "doors and windows rattling". They didn't know it at the time, but Mr Beaumont was feeling the impact of

one of the several huge earthquakes that hit the Greek island, and parts of Turkey. The first tremor, measuring 6.2 on the Richter Scale, struck 29km north of Rhodes around 12.30am local

time and was felt across Greece, Turkey and the rest of the region. A second quake hit Marmaris in Turkey at 2.13am, registering 5.8. At least 69 people have been injured, and in Turkey, a

14-year-old died. Read what the holiday companies say about travelling to Greece here. Mr Beaumont said said: "We were sleeping and awoke by the bed shaking, and the doors and windows

rattling. Article continues below "The whole block in hotel was shaking. "It lasted roughly two to three minutes but it was so surreal and really hard to describe how it felt.

"It was very frightening as we were on third floor of the block. "We didn't know what do really, in case there was another one. "We went down to reception where there

were other guests who were very frightened. "We stayed for a few minutes then returned to our room hoping that there wasn't another on the way. "Thankfully that was it, but it

was so frightening. "Me and my partner are fine. We were just a bit traumatised at the time not knowing what to do. Thankfully, the earthquake hasn't affected our trip or travel

plans, it was just a surreal experience." Article continues below