Greece heatwave 2024: Missing hiker sent distress message to hotel

A 55-year-old American has been found dead on the Greek island of Mathraki, the police said on Monday, the fifth tourist death in recent weeks following a period of unusually hot weather.

Police did not share the identity of the dead American, whose body was found near a beach on Mathraki on Sunday. He was transferred to the island of Corfu where an autopsy will be carried out, a police official told Reuters.

A 74-year-old Dutch tourist was found dead on the island of Samos on Saturday and two hikers were found dead on Crete on June 5.Rescue teams were also searching for two French women, aged 73 and 64, on the island of Sikinos, and a 59-year-old US policeman on Amorgos.

Temperatures soared above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) earlier this month, just as the holiday season began across Greece’s remote beaches, ancient sites and mountain trails.

“There is a common pattern – they all went for a hike amid high temperatures,” Petros Vassilakis, the police spokesman for the Southern Aegean, told Reuters.

A 73-year-old French woman missing on the Greek island of Sikinos since Friday sent a distress message to her hotel before disappearing, the owner of the hotel claimed on Tuesday.

Ilias Gavanas, who owns the guest house where the woman was staying, said he last heard from her on Friday when he reached her by phone around 8:30 a.m. after missing a call from her at 5:50 a.m.

The heat not only closed tourist attractions last week but schools across the country were forced to shut their doors just days before the start of the three-month-long break.

Greek schoolchildren are given three months off for summer. With temperatures rising, the holidays start in the middle of June and the next term starts again in the middle of September.

Despite schools being closed for lessons other students were forced to sit Panhellenic exams, the equivalent to A-levels, during the heatwave – many in poorly air-conditioned rooms. Parents in Athens and on the island of Thessaloniki were asked to bring fans when they dropped their children off for exams.

Workers in Athens were told to avoid activity between midday and 5pm and elderly people and those with chronic ailments were told to stay indoors.

In addition to record temperatures, Greece is expected to see record levels of tourism this year.

Overtourism is an issue in Greece, as it is in other holiday hotspots across Europe. The ombudsman report said that Santorini – a small island in the Aegean Sea with 15,550 residents – receives more than 5.5 million visitors annually, twice the number it hosted in 2012.

“In Santorini, even tourists complain about the great number of tourists,” it added.

On Friday, prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in an interview with Bloomberg that the government is also considering imposing a cap on the number of cruise ships visiting the most popular tourist islands.

The family of a British man who went missing in Greece five years ago have criticised the Greek authorities for how they handled the search for their loved one.

As he watched the mammoth search for TV presenter Michael Mosley unfold earlier this month, Gary Tossell drew parallels to the disappearance of his father John Tossell, who still hasn’t been found five years later.

He claims that the search and rescue teams failed to get out of their vehicles to search for him and they also had no search dogs available.

“They flew a helicopter around the island for a couple of hours to search for Dad. But the helicopter was coming in really low and fast. I’m ex-Royal Air Force and I know you will never find someone flying like that,” he told Mail+,

When the authorities called off the search five days later, Gary asked the police: “Do you think you’ve done enough to save my father? The police captain simply dropped his head and said ‘sorry’”.

He added: “All that we really want to know now – after all these years – is what really happened.”

Greece is on the frontline in the world’s battle against climate change, being hit by extreme heat and flooding in the space of just a few weeks last year. It recorded its longest heatwave on record, lasting 16 days, in July 2023. The high temperatures fuelled wildfires across the country that saw locals and tourists evacuated.

The minister responsible for civil protection, Vassilis Kikilias, said the last week has posed a particular wildfire risk due to the combination of high temperatures and winds. “The early start of the heatwaves, combined with the dry winter, has led to a very difficult fire season,” he said.

A favourite holiday destination for much of Europe, Greece has now been hit by the earliest heatwave on record. A heatwave is classed as temperatures exceeding 38C for at least three days.

Greek state TV meteorologist Panos Giannopoulos said the country has seen its earliest reported heatwave: “In the 20th century we never had a heatwave before 19 June. We have had several in the 21st century, but none before 15 June.”

Chania, a city on the northwest coast of Crete recorded the highest temperature, with the mercury reaching 44.5C on Thursday. The area was also hit by a 3.7 magnitude earthquake on Friday morning.

Common symptoms of heat exhaustion include:

· Dizziness and confusion

· Loss of appetite and feeling sick

· Excessive sweating and pale, clammy skin

· Cramps in the arms, legs and stomach

· Fast breathing or pulse

· A high temperature of 38C or above

Dr Mohit Mandiratta, a local GP in the Black Country, added:  “To help prevent heat exhaustion drink plenty of cold drinks, take cool baths or showers and wear light-coloured and loose clothing. Try to stay out of the sun between 11am-3pm.

“If someone has heat exhaustion, move them to a cool place and get them to lie down with their feet raised slightly. Ensure they drink plenty of water and cool their skin with cold water and fan them. They should start to cool down and feel better within 30 minutes.

“If someone with heat exhaustion does not improve after 30 minutes, they may have heatstroke. You should call emergency services if they still feel unwell after drinking plenty of water.”

One of the two French women who went missing on a Greek Island last week sent a distressing text to the hotel she was staying at before vanishing.

Authorities on the island of Sikinos are desperately searching for two French hikers,, aged 73 and 64, after the pair went missing on Friday.

It has emerged that the 73-year-old sent message to the owner of the guest house she was staying at in the morning. Ilias Gavanas told Reuters he last heard from her on Friday when he reached her by phone around 8:30am after missing a call from her at 5:50am.

He said the woman had sent him a selfie and a message saying: “I am fall”. He replied in French and English asking for her location and telling her to call the European emergency number 112, and alerted police and municipal authorities.

Hiking is popular with tourists on Sikinos, a largely barren and sparsely populated island in the southern Aegean Sea, Gavanas said.

“We warn them not to go out in the heat, to always inform us where they are, to not wander off alone,” he said. “It was 40 degrees.”

The second French woman missing on Sikinos was not staying at the same hotel but authorities believe the two missing women went hiking together.

The “relentless” search for missing tourists in Greece has intensified as temperatures soar to dangerous heights in the region.

At present search teams are scouring the islands of Sikinos and Amorgos for two French women and an American man who went missing last week.

The mayor of Sikinos said the search for the two French nationals , aged 73 and 64, “has intensified” after they went missing after embarking on a hike on Friday.

“We’ve been out all morning searching,”  Vassilis Marakis said. “Volunteers have arrived from Santorini, firefighters, the police, a specially trained dog have all been looking, but the terrain is rocky and full of ravines. The effort has been huge, but the area where they disappeared is difficult and, sadly, we still haven’t found them.”

He added: “It was extremely hot on Friday, the day they went missing.

“We had heard about such incidents happening on other islands and now it’s happened here. Yesterday, we even had a coastguard boat patrolling our island’s coast. I won’t hide that I am very worried.”