Friends and family of a missing retired US police officer have flown to the Greek island of Amorgos to join rescue efforts after he vanished during a solo hike – just days after the death of British TV doctor Michael Mosley on the island of Symi.
Eric Albert Calibet – who is known as Albert by his friends – had been vacationing on the idyllic spot of the south eastern edge of the Cyclades before he was reported missing by a friend on Tuesday.
The former Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy embarked on a challenging four-hour hike from a route toward the village of Katapola in the scorching temperatures.
After eight hours, he had not returned – drawing parallels with the death of Mosley, who was found dead following a four-hour hike on the island of Symi, just 200 miles away last week. Like the TV doctor, Calibet has not been contactable by cell phone.
Now, friends are flying to Amorgos in a bid to join the search for the 59-year old.
Robin Winston, a friend of Calibet, told ABC 7 that “we’ve got friends in France who are on their way there to do their own ground searches”.
“We’ve got people on that island who’ve met Albert and love Albert, and they’re searching too, but there’s not a lot of people,” he added.
Calibet’s brother, who lives in Southern California, was on the way to the Greek island as of Thursday morning, Winston said.
Despite authorities having to call off the search on Thursday evening due to a lack of flashlights, loved ones continue to remain hopeful after eyewitnesses said they spotted the ex-cop at a small refreshment stand to get water four hours after setting off on the hike.
“Now we’re able to narrow the search area a little bit because we can go an hour further down the path,” Winston told the outlet.
“That’s a bit of optimistic news we got this morning but other than that, we’re still… It’s a four, five-hour trail, they should’ve been able to see him on the trail by now,” he added.
A spokesperson for the Greek Police, Konstantia Dimoglidou, told CNN that “police, fire brigade and volunteers are involved in the search, including by air,” for Calibet.
In addition to search efforts in Greece, The LA County Sheriff’s Department confirmed it had filed a missing person report on Thursday and that a Homicide Bureau is handling the case locally.
Greece has been swept by a heatwave, with searing temperatures hitting upwards of 109F (43C) earlier this week. Experts appear unnerved by the uncharacteristically early heatwave, with state TV meteorologist Panos Giannopoulos noting there has never been one occurring “before 15 June”.
Mosley, 67, was found dead on June 5 following a five day search on the island of Symi after heading off on his own following a gruelling four-hour hike with his wife in 104F (40C) heat. The doctor set off on his walk back to his lodgings at about 1.30pm local time.
The presenter’s body was eventually discovered on Sunday morning in a rocky area near Agia Marina beach after being spotted by television cameras from a boat carrying the island’s mayor.
An initial post-mortem determined his time of death at 4pm local time on the day he set off. He was just 90 seconds away from a beach bar which would have almost certainly granted his safety.