Why Greek islands have always been death traps

As school summer holiday season fast approaches, with the longed-for “on annual leave” status getting closer in the diary, the excitement of a holiday on a Greek island is reaching its peak: the azure sea; the whitewashed facades of the marina-fronted buildings promising ice-cold drinks; the beaches and coves a siren call to all of us used to rain and cloud. Along with their remote spots, difficult-to-reach coves and stunning headlands, the Greek islands have it all – with not much long-haul hassle to spoil the bliss. But since the death of the much-loved broadcaster Michael Mosley, who was found on June 9 close to the Agia Marina beach on the island of Symi, five days after initially going for a simple, solo walk from the beach, the news has been filled with tragic stories of more holiday makers – typically Europeans – dying while attempting to hike in the islands’ extraordinary heat. Six more have died or gone missing on the Greek islands this month, all cases attributed to taking risks in “history-making” hot weather. This week, a 67-year-old German man became the latest casualty, after he set off alone on a canyon hike on the island of Crete, which had been experiencing temperatures of 44.5C. A few hours into the walk he’d called his wife to report that he’d been feeling unwell; he was later found dead near a ravine. Before that, on June 15, the body of a Dutch man, 74, was found dead in a ravine on the eastern island of Samos after being reportedly seen struggling to walk in the heat. A day later, a missing American man was also found dead on the island of Mathraki, near Corfu – the third to lose his life in a week. Meanwhile, searches are taking place for three tourists: two French women, aged 73 and 64, who are missing on Sikinos, and a retired Los Angeles sheriff deputy, Eric Calibet, 59, with dual French-American citizenship, who was last seen hiking alone on Amorgos. An Israeli couple in the area of Vytina in the Peloponnese peninsula are also yet to return. “This has always been a problem, especially with tourists who arrive in the islands for the first time,” says Konstantina Dimoglidou, a spokesperson for the Greek police. “What happened was that due to the heatwave, all cases occurred almost simultaneously in a matter of days, while most other years they would be spread over the summer. Rescuers who were looking for Michael Mosley told me that the thermometer in the place where he was found was at 46C at some point.” In recent weeks, Greece has experienced two back-to-back heatwaves, with temperatures reaching beyond 40C. Schools shut down and the culture ministry was forced to close the Acropolis and other archaeological sites to visitors. Red Cross volunteers handed out thousands of free bottles of water and Athens’ town hall has set up cooling stations. But paths on the islands, by their very nature wild and uncontrolled, remained completely unregulated. Authorities typically issue warnings to older locals to stay indoors and to keep hydrated, and yet warnings are not issued to tourists about the dangers of hiking. For locals who live on the islands, the recent deaths are tragic but also, they say, sadly avoidable. Mosley’s death has trained a spotlight on hiking in the islands, but lost and often ill-equipped tourists have always been a problem there, their lives always at risk from Greek island derring-do. Usually, tourists are found in time or re-orientate themselves before their energetic intentions become tragic – but sometimes they are never found. The weather in all such cases of tourist hikers getting lost is always hot – often tourists are seen on trails without hats, which baffles locals – but this year, say experts and locals, it is the combination of unusual heat and hiking that has proved especially deadly. One local on the island of Antiparos, who did not wish to be named, said: “It is usually OK to hike on the islands in June, but this year we have seen an unusual and prolonged heatwave. I believe that when Michael Mosley went missing, for instance, rescuers were looking for him in 40 degrees. It is just uncharacteristically hot.” The woman, from England, now lives in Athens but travels to Antiparos regularly. She adds that very few tourists realise that many of the islands, particularly towards southern Greece, have their own micro-climate. There is often little shade and no trees. Sometimes the much-longed-for breeze on a Greek island can lead to dangerous decision making: it masks the heat, tricking tourists into thinking activity such as hiking is safer than it actually is. Walking on the islands is often tempting because the views are so exceptional and because often the smallest, craggiest paths can lead to the best coves