Greek officials are searching for an American tourist who went missing among the country’s coastal islands earlier this week, one of at least three cases of a missing traveler in Greece in recent days.
The unidentified man was last seen Tuesday in a tavern in Mathraki, a small island near the larger Greek island of Corfu.
The American was seen in the company of two female tourists, Spyros Argyros, president of the local community, told Greek news outlet eKathimerini.
The man was staying with a Greek-American friend, who returned to his home on Thursday to find the front door open, lights and air conditioning on, and their friend missing, along with his ID and travel documents. He quickly alerted police, officials told ABC News.
Mathraki does not have a police or coast guard station of its own, and officials from Corfu were called in to assist in the investigation into the disappearance.
Search and rescue teams looked in the waters near Mathraki on Thursday, pausing operations on Friday due to rough weather. The hunt will continue on Saturday.
Another American, former Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Albert Calibet, 59, didn’t return from a hike on the island of Amorgos on Tuesday.
Local officials say it’s unlikely Calibet became lost.
“It’s unlikely he got lost as he has been coming here for 10 years and has walked all over Amorgos,” Popi Despotidi, the island’s deputy mayor of tourism, told CNN.
A third traveler, a 74-year-old from the Netherlands, has been missing since Sunday, after disappearing on the island of Samos.
The disappearances come the week after Dr Michael Mosley, a physician and TV star known for advocating healthy lifestyles and intermittent fasting, was found dead on the island of Symi.
His remains were found at the foot of a fence near a beach bar at the Agia Marina resort.
CCTV footage has reportedly shown him making his way down the slope before falling over, with his wife saying that his family had taken comfort in the fact he “very nearly made it to safety”.
As The Independent has reported, Greece is currently experiencing a heatwave at an unprecedented time early in the summer.
“In the 20th century, we never had a heatwave before 19 June,” Greek state TV meteorologist Panos Giannopoulos said recently. “We have had several in the 21st century, but none before 15 June.”
At least four holidaymakers have died in the heat, and popular sites like the Acropolis have temporarily closed after reports of visitors fainting.