The Independent
Greece is counting the cost of an early heatwave that has taken the lives of several tourists in a preview of the extreme weather it is likely to face this summer.
An urgent warning has been issued to anyone travelling to the country as four holidaymakers have died and more are missing amid record temperatures.
A favourite holiday destination for much of Europe, Greece has now been hit by the earliest heatwave on record. A heatwave is classed as temperatures exceeding 38C for at least three days.
Tourist sites in sweltering Athens and beyond were forced to close on Wednesday and Thursday.
The Acropolis shut its doors to visitors after reports of people fainting while waiting in line.
Greek authorities issued a level three heat alert, sending automated warnings to phones that urged people to work from home and avoid strenuous outdoor activities.
Greek state TV meteorologist Panos Giannopoulos said the country has seen its earliest reported heatwave: “In the 20th century we never had a heatwave before 19 June. We have had several in the 21st century, but none before 15 June.”
Chania, a city on the northwest coast of Crete recorded the highest temperature, with the mercury reaching 44.5C on Thursday. The area was also hit by a 3.7 magnitude earthquake on Friday morning.
The heat, twinned with an earlier season than usual, has left several tourists dead, even before the high period starts.
The spike in heat comes in the same week that TV doctor Michael Mosley was found dead on the island of Symi in the Dodecanese island group close to Rhodes. He collapsed during a walk.
The Trust Me, I’m a Doctor presenter, 67, was found dead on Sunday, four days after he went missing. His wife said he took the wrong route on what was supposed to be a short walk to the next town.
The path would have taken him over or alongside a steep slope littered with rocks and no shelter from the heat that hit 37C. It is estimated that his time of death was around 4pm local time on Wednesday. He had left friends on the island’s Agios Nikolaos beach at around 1.30pm to go for a walk.
Elsewhere in Greece, a 67-year-old Dutch tourist was found dead in Crete on 5 June. The man collapsed while crossing the Mylon gorge in Rethymno. The fire service confirmed the death on social media and local media reported he suffered heart failure in the heat.
On the same day, local media reported a 70-year-old French tourist collapsed and died while walking on a beach in Sitia, Crete.
A fourth tourist death was reported on Thursday 13 June, again on Crete. An 80-year-old man had left his hotel on his own and was found dead near an archaeological site near the northeast town of Malia.
Search teams in Greece are still looking for three other missing tourists in separate incidents.
Retired US police officer Eric Calibet disappeared while out on a solo hike on the island of Amorgos in the southeast of the country on Tuesday afternoon. Mr Calibet, 59, knew the area well having been visiting the island almost every year for about a decade.
He left for a four-hour hike, from Aegiali to Katapola around 7am.
"We’re almost on three days here," his brother Oliver Calibet told Fox 11 TV in Los Angeles. "There’s no water… I’m very distraught."
Another American tourist is also missing on the small island of Mathraki, just off Corfu. The 55-year-old tourist hasn’t been seen since Tuesday 11 June, according to local media.
On the island of Samos, a 74-year-old Dutch tourist disappeared while hiking on Sunday. Rescue teams on the tourist island in the eastern Aegean sea said the man vanished in the area of Marathokampos.
Searches for all three are still ongoing.
Dimitris Katatzis, head of the Samos rescue team, said tourists are unaware of the risks they face walking in the heat. Saying they often “veer off track” to see sites and then get lost. “We saw a couple [of foreigners] walking a trail in 41C without hats,” he told local media. “It defies logic.”
Dr Mohit Mandiratta, resident GP on BBC Breakfast, has warned of the complications even the healthiest people can face in the heat. He told The Independent: “Heat can affect anyone, including fit and healthy people, and be very serious if not treated immediately.
“It can come on quickly, over minutes, or gradually over hours, so it’s important we all stay alert to symptoms.”
Heatstroke is a life-threatening condition that occurs when your core body temperature reaches 40C or higher and must be treated immediately.
Radek Nowak, active product manager for Intrepid Travel – an agency that specialises in walking holidays, said they have had to adapt trips according to the heat: “The soaring summer temperatures in Europe are certainly making it more challenging for people to do more active holidays.”
Intrepid no longer runs hiking trips in Spain and Portugal during the hottest months of July and August. Winter trips have been added instead in countries such as Greece and Croatia.
Radek added: “When groups are doing walks or hikes in the warm weather, we plan our days around the weather, heading out early in the morning before the heat reaches its peak.”
An urgent warning has been issued to anyone travelling to the country as four holidaymakers have died and more are missing amid record temperatures.
A favourite holiday destination for much of Europe, Greece has now been hit by the earliest heatwave on record. A heatwave is classed as temperatures exceeding 38C for at least three days.
Tourist sites in sweltering Athens and beyond were forced to close on Wednesday and Thursday.
The Acropolis shut its doors to visitors after reports of people fainting while waiting in line.
Greek authorities issued a level three heat alert, sending automated warnings to phones that urged people to work from home and avoid strenuous outdoor activities.
Greek state TV meteorologist Panos Giannopoulos said the country has seen its earliest reported heatwave: “In the 20th century we never had a heatwave before 19 June. We have had several in the 21st century, but none before 15 June.”
Chania, a city on the northwest coast of Crete recorded the highest temperature, with the mercury reaching 44.5C on Thursday. The area was also hit by a 3.7 magnitude earthquake on Friday morning.
The heat, twinned with an earlier season than usual, has left several tourists dead, even before the high period starts.
The spike in heat comes in the same week that TV doctor Michael Mosley was found dead on the island of Symi in the Dodecanese island group close to Rhodes. He collapsed during a walk.
The Trust Me, I’m a Doctor presenter, 67, was found dead on Sunday, four days after he went missing. His wife said he took the wrong route on what was supposed to be a short walk to the next town.
The path would have taken him over or alongside a steep slope littered with rocks and no shelter from the heat that hit 37C. It is estimated that his time of death was around 4pm local time on Wednesday. He had left friends on the island’s Agios Nikolaos beach at around 1.30pm to go for a walk.
Elsewhere in Greece, a 67-year-old Dutch tourist was found dead in Crete on 5 June. The man collapsed while crossing the Mylon gorge in Rethymno. The fire service confirmed the death on social media and local media reported he suffered heart failure in the heat.
On the same day, local media reported a 70-year-old French tourist collapsed and died while walking on a beach in Sitia, Crete.
A fourth tourist death was reported on Thursday 13 June, again on Crete. An 80-year-old man had left his hotel on his own and was found dead near an archaeological site near the northeast town of Malia.
Search teams in Greece are still looking for three other missing tourists in separate incidents.
Retired US police officer Eric Calibet disappeared while out on a solo hike on the island of Amorgos in the southeast of the country on Tuesday afternoon. Mr Calibet, 59, knew the area well having been visiting the island almost every year for about a decade.
He left for a four-hour hike, from Aegiali to Katapola around 7am.
"We’re almost on three days here," his brother Oliver Calibet told Fox 11 TV in Los Angeles. "There’s no water… I’m very distraught."
Another American tourist is also missing on the small island of Mathraki, just off Corfu. The 55-year-old tourist hasn’t been seen since Tuesday 11 June, according to local media.
On the island of Samos, a 74-year-old Dutch tourist disappeared while hiking on Sunday. Rescue teams on the tourist island in the eastern Aegean sea said the man vanished in the area of Marathokampos.
Searches for all three are still ongoing.
Dimitris Katatzis, head of the Samos rescue team, said tourists are unaware of the risks they face walking in the heat. Saying they often “veer off track” to see sites and then get lost. “We saw a couple [of foreigners] walking a trail in 41C without hats,” he told local media. “It defies logic.”
Dr Mohit Mandiratta, resident GP on BBC Breakfast, has warned of the complications even the healthiest people can face in the heat. He told The Independent: “Heat can affect anyone, including fit and healthy people, and be very serious if not treated immediately.
“It can come on quickly, over minutes, or gradually over hours, so it’s important we all stay alert to symptoms.”
Heatstroke is a life-threatening condition that occurs when your core body temperature reaches 40C or higher and must be treated immediately.
Radek Nowak, active product manager for Intrepid Travel – an agency that specialises in walking holidays, said they have had to adapt trips according to the heat: “The soaring summer temperatures in Europe are certainly making it more challenging for people to do more active holidays.”
Intrepid no longer runs hiking trips in Spain and Portugal during the hottest months of July and August. Winter trips have been added instead in countries such as Greece and Croatia.
Radek added: “When groups are doing walks or hikes in the warm weather, we plan our days around the weather, heading out early in the morning before the heat reaches its peak.”
