A 40-year-old French woman died after falling overboard into the sea during a the International sailboat race AEGEAN600 that was in the northwest of the island of Kasos.
At the time of the incident, powerful winds were blowing in the area with the waves reaching a height of up to 2 meters, media reported.
According to the Greek coast guard, the accident occurred on Monday evening, when the woman and a 36-year-old Ukrainian man fell from the deck of a Spanish-flagged sailboat during the race.
They were retrieved from the water by the other seven members of the crew but the woman was unconscious, though the Ukrainian man was in good health.
Immediately the other members of the crew made all the prescribed moves and retrieved their two fellow athletes from the water. The woman was injured and unconscious.
Port authorities were immediately informed and a coastguard rescue boat went out and located the sailboat. It accompanied it to the island of Kasos, where a doctor at the Kasos health center pronounced the woman dead.
In a very short statement, AEGEAN600 organizers wrote that the woman had sustained a head injury.
Her body will be transferred to the Rhodes coroner’s office for an examination/autopsy while a preliminary inquiry is being carried out by the Kasos port authority.
According to media, authorities investigate whether the safety regulations applied.
Speaking to Mega TV Live News, Nikos Karageorgiou, former president of Piraeus Sailing CLub said that the two sailing athletes were not tied to the deck belts and they why they fell into the water. The man managed to swim away from the boat, but not the woman who was hit by it.
The start of the race was given as every year symbolically from the sea area of the Temple of Poseidon in Attica and the finish after the route of 600 nautical miles are at the same starting point after passing through 13 Greek islands.
The race started on July 7 and is expected to last six days.
69 boats from 25 foreign countries participate in the AEGEAN600 race this year.
