A tragedy unfolded on the island of Fournoi by Ikaria, when the body of an 11-year-old boy was pulled unconscious from the popular beach of Plaka. For hours locals, visitors and coast guard were searching for the child whose mother had reported it as missing.
According to media information, the boy left his home around 2.30 early Thursday afternoon for a swim together with a cousin.
At 6 o’ clock in the afternoon his mother informed the local authorities and police that the boy had not return home.
Immediately everyone on the island was mobilized and searched for the missing boy by land and in the sea, while coast guard boats left the islands of Ikaria and Samos to join the Search and Rescue operation..
It was around 8.30 in the evening when the boy was found in the sea by a citizen and thus next to a buoy off the beach of Plaka.
The boy was wearing a bathing suit and has a water mask on.
Its body was taken to the local health center where only his death could be confirmed.
According to initial information, the body was trapped into fishing nets.
Two scenarios claim that the 11-year-old probably became entangled in nets and did not manage to get to the surface of the sea. However, another scenario that is being considered is that the child lost consciousness in the sea, for unknown reasons, and it was then dragged by the sea currents to the nets.
The boy was on vacation with his mother whose origin is from Fournoi. His father, a well-known television actor was not on the island at the time of the tragedy.
The body was transferred to the island of Samos where an autopsy is to determine the exact causes of his death.
The local coast guard investigates the incident.
