A missing Dutch tourist was found dead early Saturday on the eastern Greek island of Samos, local media reported, the latest in a string of cases in which tourists on Greek islands have died or gone missing. Some, if not all, had set out on hikes in blistering hot temperatures.
Two Americans and two French tourists have also recently been reported missing.
Dr Michael Mosley, a noted British TV anchor and author, was found dead last Sunday on the island of Symi. A coroner concluded that he had died the previous Wednesday, shortly after going for a hike over difficult, rocky terrain.
Samos, like Symi, lies very close to the Turkish coast.
The body of the 74-year-old Dutch tourist was found by a Fire Service drone lying face down in a ravine about 300 meters (330 yards) from the spot where he was last observed on Sunday, walking with some difficulty in the blistering heat.
Temperatures across Greece on Saturday were more than 10 degrees Celsius (18F) lower than on Thursday, when they peaked at almost 45C (113F). They are expected to rise again from Sunday, although not to heatwave levels.
Authorities were still searching for four people reported missing in the past few days.
On Friday, two French tourists were reported missing on Sikinos, a relatively secluded Cyclades island in the Aegean Sea, with less than 400 permanent residents.
The two women, aged 73 and 64, had left their respective hotels to meet.
A 70-year-old American tourist was reported missing on Thursday on the small island of Mathraki in Greece’s northwest extremity by his host, a Greek-American friend. The tourist had last been seen Tuesday at a cafe in the company of two female tourists who have since left the island.
The friend returned to his home on Thursday only to find the front door open, the lights, and air conditioning on, and their friend missing as well as his ID and travel documents.
Mathraki, population 100, is a 3.9-square-kilometer (1.2-square-mile) heavily wooded island, west of the better-known island of Corfu.
Mathraki doesn’t have a police station or a coast guard station, meaning that Corfu officials were called in to aid with the search but strong winds had prevented police and the fire service from reaching the island as of Saturday afternoon.
On Thursday, the search crews looked in the waters around the island, only to pause on Friday because of rough weather.
On the island of Amorgos, authorities were still searching for a 59-year-old tourist reported missing since Tuesday, when he had gone on a solo hike in very hot conditions. US media identified the missing tourist as retired Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff Albert Calibet of Hermosa Beach, California.
Amorgos, the easternmost of the Cyclades islands, is a rocky 122-square-kilometer (47-square-mile) island of less than 2,000 inhabitants. A couple of years ago the island had a record number of visitors, over 100,000.
Popi Despotidi, the island’s deputy mayor of tourism, told CNN: “It’s unlikely he got lost as he has been coming here for 10 years and has walked all over Amorgos.”
Calibet retired from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department in 2018.
Robin Leon, a friend of the Calibet family, told NBC News: “He knows this path, he knows this island.”
“The mayor knows him, every cafe knows him, people know Albert on that island. They love him,” Leon added.
The municipality of Amorgos wrote on Facebook that the 59-year-old had followed the path from the Asphontylite region toward the village of Katapola. When he vanished, he was wearing Bermuda shorts and a dark shirt.
Calibet’s sister-in-law Sandrine Cutwright told NBC News that “every minute, every hour that passes it gets more sad.”
Some media reports have suggested on the need to inform tourists of the dangers of setting off on hikes in intense heat.
Emily Foster is a globe-trotting journalist based in the UK. Her articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
