Two tourists — one a retired sheriff’s deputy from Los Angeles, the other a man from the Netherlands — disappeared while hiking separately in Greece, local authorities confirmed.
Albert Calibet, a 59-year-old from California, vanished sometime Tuesday afternoon shortly after he embarked on a four-hour hike on the Greek island of Amorgos. He was last seen traveling along a route toward the village of Katapola, according to a statement on the Amorgos municipality’s official Facebook page.
In the days since, several agencies have joined the search for Calibet, including volunteers from the coast guard and crews from the nearby islands of Paros and Naxos, according to Greek public broadcaster ERT News. They’re also using a drone to search the more northern part of the island.
Calibet — a former cop and seasoned hiker — has been journeying to Amorgos “almost every year” for about a decade, Popi Despotidi, Amorgos’ deputy mayor of tourism, told CNN on Thursday.
His brother Alex Calibet said he’s particularly concerned given the hot weather currently scorching most of Greece. According to the Hellenic National Meteorological Service, the heatwave was set to peak on Thursday, and the agency as a result has issued an orange alert, its second-most serious designation.
“We’re almost on three days here,” Alex Calibet told Fox 11. “There’s no water… I’m very distraught.”
A search was also underway on the island of Samos for a 74-year-old Dutch tourist who has been missing since Sunday. He disappeared while hiking in the Marathokampou area of the island, the Hellenic Rescue Team of Samos said in a post on Facebook. The efforts include “police, fire brigade and volunteers,” Konstantia Dimoglidou, a spokesperson for the Greek police, told CNN.
“Unfortunately, so far we have no news about either of them,” she added.
The separate searches come after the discovery of the body of British TV personality Michael Mosley, who went missing while strolling in toasty temperatures on the Greek island of Symi earlier this month.
Mosley, a television doctor who popularized a type of intermittent fasting called the 5:2 Diet, was found dead on Sunday and an autopsy showed that he died from natural causes. Authorities believe he died on June 6, just hours after taking off on his walk.
