A 59-year-old US tourist has been missing on the island of Amorgos in the central Aegean Sea since Tuesday morning, when he went hiking on a four-hour route.
The man was spending vacations on the island with a friend. He started around 7 o’ clock in the morning. When he failed to return in due time, his friend alarmed authorities.
A search operation with the participation of rescuers and volunteers has been launched, however, no trace of the American tourist has been found so far, that is Wednesday 11 a.m.
The man who worked as police officer in Los Angeles, went hiking in an inaccessible part of Amorgos.
The retired policeman had with him two mobile phones with French and US numbers. The last communication he allegedly had was with his sister at 7.20 am, 15 minutes after he started the hike. He even sent her a photo of the trail sign.
According to his friend, the man left around 7 am on Tuesday from Aegiali in the direction of Katapola, following reported an officially designated path that goes through difficult to access landscape.
Until noon, he had not given any signs of life, while he did not answer the calls made to the two cell phones.
According to state broadcaster ERT, the police station in charge of Amorgos has sent a request was sent to mobile telephone companies to locate the two mobile phones of the missing American tourist.
Authorities hope that since the devices have not been switched off or damaged, they will show the man’s location.
PS I don’t know what’s in people’s mind when they visit Greece, but the retired US policeman is the 5th tourist alone in June 2024 who starts hiking in unknown terrain and high temperatures and then go missing after an accident or die due to health problems they have ignored.
One of them was popular BBC presenter and health guru Michael Mosley who went for a walk the peak of the soaring temperatures on the island of Symi.
Not again! Really!!
What happened to common sense 🤔
So sad.😟
Going to be a scorcher today🥵
Two things
This is not an inaccessible part of the island. It is a clearly defined hiking trail which is popular with hikers of all ages.
The gentleman in question is a well known popular summer tourist who has done this walk many times.
thanks
Was he found?
I think Greece needs to create a public awareness campaign aimed at tourists about the dangers of hiking in the heat, especially in remote areas. I still remember that young French girl who died hiking in Crete and only had one water bottle or something like that.
I once suffered heat stroke hiking even though I had water and salt tabs (to retain water) and a head cover. It can happen suddenly and it’s no joke. I just got lucky—I had reached shade and a water source right after my body had started hyperventilating and shaking.