A U.S. tourist who mysteriously vanished on a picturesque Greek Island was found dead on a beach there Sunday, part of a troubling trend of local visitors disappearing or ending up dead in the sweltering heat.
The remains of the 70-year-old American, who was last seen Tuesday, were found around 1:30 p.m. local time on the Greek island of Mathraki, a remote isle about 25 miles northwest of the island of Corfu, the president of the island community told ABC News.
The cause of death was not immediately known. The man was staying with a Greek-American friend on the island before he vanished, according to investigators.
The dead tourist was the second American – and seventh traveler — to either go missing or be found dead in the Greek islands this month. Many of them are believed to have been hiking in sweltering, triple-digit temperatures.
The man’s friend called the cops Thursday when he returned home to find the front door open, the lights on and the air conditioning running — but no sign of his pal. The missing man’s ID and travel documents were also gone, officials said.
The vanished tourist had last been seen at a tavern with two female travelers who have since left the country.
The island, which sits west of Corfu, has no police station or coast guard and only has about 50 permanent residents. Law-enforcement officers and a coroner from Corfu were called to help with the investigation and the American’s body is expected to be taken to Corfu for an autopsy.
Another American tourist was reported missing from the Greek isles in the past few days, too. A missing Dutch tourist was found dead on the eastern island of Samos on Saturday.
The body of the Dutch traveler, an unnamed 74-year-old man, was found by firefighters using a drone to scour a steep ravine near where he was last seen struggling to hike on a hot day when temperatures hit triple digits.
Authorities are still searching for Albert Calibet, a retired Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy who failed to return after a four-hour hike across the island of Amorgos, the easternmost of the Cyclades islands to the south of Greece’s mainland.
A search for the 59-year-old has involved drones, helicopters and even local shepherds — though there has been no sign of him or any of his belongings as of Sunday.
The seasoned hiker, who hails from Hermosa Beach, Calif., has dual citizenship in Greece and has visited Amorgos almost every year for the past decade.
At least four other people also were found dead on the islands earlier this month.
Dr. Michael Mosley, a British physician and TV star, was found dead June 9 after going missing from the island of Symi, about 150 miles south of Samos, four days earlier.
Mosley, 67, took the wrong route on a hike and collapsed just short of a marina in a spot where his body couldn’t be easily located, according to reports.
A 67-year-old Dutch tourist, a 70-year-old French tourist and an 80-year-old man all also died in the heat, all on the island of Crete, between June 5 and June 13.
