14 June 2024 , 08:46
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Brits who are planning to jet off to Greece have been warned of a heatwave risk - but officials say tourists have been "ill-informed".
Red Cross staff have been offering free water at some holiday hotspots as temperatures have soared to above 40C. However, local authorities have stressed that there are actions that tourists should carry out when there is a heatwave risk including basic protection such as wearing hats.
Concerns have been raised following the death of TV doctor, Michael Mosley, who disappeared on the Greek island of Symi while walking in searing temperatures. A five-day search operation was launched with locals and emergency services but he was sadly found dead on Sunday. A Greek coroner cited exhaustion as one of the likely causes of the doctor's death. Since then, emergency services have also been called out to aid people on two other islands, Samos and Amorgos.
Tourists have been told to wear hats in the heat (Anadolu via Getty Images)Dimitris Katatzis, who runs the Samos rescue team, said he witnessed holidaymakers as they "veered off track". He believes they are unaware of the risks of being unsafe in the heat. He warned: "Yesterday we saw a couple [of foreigners] walking a trail in 41C without hats. It defies logic.” The warnings come after meteorological groups in the European Union holiday hotspot have been warned temperatures have hit the mid-forties.
“I’d like to see more CCTV cameras and the lighting of these trails,” said Symi’s mayor, Eleftherios Papakalodoukas . “If there is a lesson to be learned from the tragedy [of Mosley’s death], it is that these paths need to be better looked after so that people don’t get lost.”
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Michael Mosley pictured on Symi before his death
Mosley died after walking in searing heat (John Lawrence/REX/Shutterstock)A record 48C was recorded last summer and earlier this week saw 44C highs recorded. In Greece ’s second city, Thessaloniki, schoolteachers and pupils said annual exams were held under difficult conditions, and the Acropolis in Athens was shut, reports Birmingham Live. The body of Dr Mosley is likely to be released to his family and repatriated by the weekend, forensic pathologists have said.
Tests revealing the precise cause of his death could take months because of a lack of certified laboratories to conduct advanced analysis. “Usually it’s only a matter of time once a postmortem is conducted for a body to be released,” said Dr Grigoris Leon, who heads the Hellenic Society of Forensic Medicine. “That means in this case it’s a question of days before repatriation takes place.”