Two tourists dead and three others missing across Greek islands

Several tourists have gone missing in the Greek islands as temperatures heat up, with two bodies recently discovered prompting fresh warnings. Photo / Getty Images

A missing American tourist has been found dead on a beach on a small Greek island west of Corfu, local media reported.

The body of the man was found on Sunday local time (today NZT) on a rocky, fairly remote beach on the island of Mathraki by another tourist. He had been reported missing last week by his host, a Greek-American friend. The tourist had last been seen on Wednesday at a cafe in the company of two female tourists who have since left the island.

No further details about the victim, including a name or hometown, were immediately available.

Mathraki, which has a population of 100, is a 3.9sq km heavily wooded island, west of the better-known Corfu.

This was the latest in a string of recent cases in which tourists on the Greek islands have died or gone missing. Some, if not all, had set out on hikes in very hot temperatures.

A 74-year-old Dutch tourist was found by a fire department drone at the weekend lying face down in a ravine about 300m from the spot where he was last observed on June 10, walking with some difficulty in the blistering heat.

Dr Michael Mosley, a noted British television presenter and author, was found dead last week on the island of Symi. A coroner concluded that he had died the previous Wednesday, shortly after going for a hike over difficult, rocky terrain.

On Saturday, two French tourists were reported missing on Sikinos, a relatively secluded Cyclades island in the Aegean Sea, with less than 400 permanent residents.

The two women, aged 64 and 73, had left their respective hotels to meet.

On the island of Amorgos, also in the Cyclades, authorities are still searching for a 59-year-old tourist reported missing since Wednesday, when he had gone on a solo hike in very hot conditions. United States media identified the missing tourist as retired Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff Albert Calibet of Hermosa Beach, California.