The anxiety increases day after day. Since Friday June 14, two French tourists, aged 64 and 73, have disappeared in the Greek Cyclades Islands. They had gone hiking on the islet of Sikinos, 40 km² large and populated by barely 250 inhabitants, located less than 300 kilometers off the coast of Athens. But with scorching weather and the death of three foreign tourists last week, the authorities are doing everything they can to find them.
A fall in the early morning
The last trace left is a message that one of them sent to the manager of their hotel. “I woke up at 7 a.m. on Friday and saw that this customer had tried to reach me on WhatsApp several times. I tried to call her back, but she didn’t answer. So I sent her a message in English: ‘Hello, you called earlier, is everything okay?’, but no answer”, Ilias Gavanas, the owner of the hotel, testified on TF1info.
Subsequently, the manager explains that the septuagenarian sent him a photo of herself lying on the ground stating “I fell”. The man then asked her to send him her location on Google Maps, if “she was near Episkope, a historic site” and finally advised her to call 112 (the European emergency number). However, the French tourist no longer responded. “The day they went for a hike, it was extremely hot. Additionally, some trails on our island are mapped, but others are not. We don’t even know if the two hikers went for a walk together or separately,” said Mayor Vassilis Marakis to the ANT1 channel and reported by Cyclades24.
According to the same source, a search team was formed with 11 people and two drones on the island of Sikinos. “We are continually combing the area and the Dyros firefighters, as well as volunteers, are participating in the investigations,” said Vassilis Marakis.
Three foreign tourists found dead
This news item is taken very seriously by the Greek authorities because it is part of a series of disappearances and deaths of foreign tourists in Greece last week. In total, there are three: Michael Mosley, star doctor of British television and found last Sunday June 9 on the island of Symi, in the Aegean Sea, a 74-year-old Dutch tourist on the island of Samos and finally, Albert Calibet, 59, former Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy, found dead after hiking, reports CBS News. Another American tourist is also wanted.
The situation would be linked to a very difficult climate, with the earliest heat wave ever recorded in the country. Temperatures exceeded 40°C in the shade, leading to the closure of the Acropolis in Athens last Wednesday.