Dutch tourist found dead on Greek island and 4 other foreign tourists missing on 3 islands

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A missing Dutch tourist was found dead early Saturday on the eastern Greek island of Samos, local media reported, the latest in a series of recent cases in which tourists have died or been disappeared in the Greek islands. Some, if not all, had gone hiking in scorching temperatures.

Dr Michael Mosley, famous British television presenter and author, was found dead last Sunday on the island of Symi. A coroner concluded he died the previous Wednesday, shortly after hiking over difficult and rocky terrain.

Samos, like Symi, is very close to the Turkish coast.

The body of the 74-year-old Dutch tourist was found by a fire department drone, lying face down in a ravine about 300 meters (330 yards) from where he was last seen on Sunday, walking with some difficulties in scorching heat. .

Authorities were still searching for four people who went missing in recent days.

On Friday, two French tourists were reported missing from Sikinos, a relatively isolated Cycladic island in the Aegean Sea with fewer than 400 permanent residents.

The two women, aged 73 and 64, had left their respective hotels to meet up.

A 70-year-old American tourist was reported missing Thursday on the small island of Mathraki, in the northwest tip of Greece, by his host, a Greek-American friend. The tourist was last seen on Tuesday in a cafe with two female tourists who have since left the island.

Mathraki, with a population of 100, is a heavily forested island of 3.9 square kilometers (1.2 square miles), west of the better-known island of Corfu. High winds had prevented police and firefighters from reaching the island to search for the missing person on Saturday afternoon, media reported.

On the island of Amorgos, authorities were still searching for a 59-year-old tourist who had been missing since Tuesday while hiking solo 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 island measuring 122 square kilometers (47 square miles) and populated by fewer than 2,000 inhabitants. A few years ago, the island welcomed a record number of visitors, more than 100,000.

Some media have insisted on the need to inform tourists of the dangers of hiking in intense heat.

Temperatures across Greece on Saturday were more than 10 degrees Celsius (18 Fahrenheit) lower than Thursday, when they peaked at nearly 45 C (113 F). They are expected to increase again from Sunday, but without reaching heatwave levels.