Image source, Amorgos city
- author, Madeline Halpert
- role, BBC News, New York
-
Greek authorities are searching for a US tourist who went missing after going on a solo hike on the island of Amorgos.
According to local authorities, Albert Carivet, 59, went missing on Tuesday afternoon after a friend reported him missing after he didn’t return from a hike.
According to Greek public broadcaster ERT News, several agencies are joining the search for Kalibet, including coast guard volunteers and teams from the nearby islands of Paros and Naxos.
His disappearance comes days after British television presenter Michael Mosley went missing on the Greek island of Symi and was found dead four days later.
The BBC has contacted the US State Department for comment on the search for Mr Carivet.
Authorities are searching both land and water over an area covering almost a quarter of Amorgos, the island’s mayor, Eleftherios Karaiskos, told ERT.
Police are using drones to search the north of the island and are trying to track two of Mr Calibet’s mobile phones, although the mayor said he had been to the island before but no calls had been made.
“It’s almost our third day here,” her brother, Oliver Carivet, told Fox 11 television in Los Angeles. “We have no water… We’re just so confused.”
According to ABC News, Oliver Carivet and his girlfriend are traveling to Greece to help with the search effort.
The island’s mayor said the hike Carivet started on was crowded and not particularly difficult, suggesting the Americans may have strayed from their planned route.
Carivet, described as a retired police officer from Los Angeles County by local reports, began his hike Tuesday morning in the village of Aguiari.
Minutes later, he allegedly sent a text message attaching a photo of a sign showing the estimated four-hour walking route to Katapola.
About two hours later, a local woman said she spoke to the missing tourist, who had bought a drink at a nearby shop. Sofia Libiaki told Mega TV that Kalibet had taken a soft drink, showed her the route he had planned, and had taken a bottle of water for the rest of the journey.
Mr Kalibet’s disappearance has shocked locals on Amorgos, where he had visited regularly for years. The path he chose is well-travelled and not particularly difficult, but the island is currently experiencing a heatwave with temperatures reaching 35C (95F).
“The temperatures are very high, as they are all over Greece during the heatwave,” Popi Despotidi, the island’s deputy mayor for tourism, told Greek media. “I think he felt dizzy and collapsed somewhere. It’s strange because it’s not the first time he’s walked this route.”
“We are hopeful of bringing him home safely,” Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna told ABC News. “We are actively working with multiple agencies overseas to assist Deputy Carivet in the search and will do everything we can to bring him back to his loved ones.”
The search for the missing man comes just days after authorities spent days searching another Greek island, Symi, for Dr Mosley, a well-known British TV doctor who went missing after going for a walk off the beach.
His body was found in a rocky area and investigators concluded he died of natural causes the day he went missing.
