ATHENS: An American scientist who disappeared a week ago on the island of Crete was found dead on Tuesday, her employers said.
Suzanne Eaton, 60, a molecular biologist at the world-renowned Max Planck Institute in Dresden, Germany, was attending a conference in the town of Chania when she was reported missing on July 2.
Greek authorities said a body was discovered on a rough and rocky site inside a World War Two bunker, about 8-10 km (5-6 miles) from where she was last seen.
“It is with enormous sadness and regret that we announce the tragic demise of our dearest friend and colleague, Suzanne Eaton. The police recovered her body during the evening of 8th July,” the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics said in a statement.
Police said further forensic tests were underway. The cause of death was not immediately known.
“Searching for Suzanne,” a Facebook page created by Eaton’s family, said she was last known to be playing the piano on July 2, and is believed to have gone for a run later that afternoon.
Her passport, wallet, phone, cash, and cycling shoes were in her hotel room but her running shoes were missing, it said.
Dresden University’s Max Planck Institute, where Eaton was a research group leader, described her in a statement on its website as “a leading scientist in her field, a strong athlete, runner and senior black belt in Tae Kwon Do.”
Missing American scientist found dead in Crete
Missing American scientist found dead in Crete
- Suzanne Eaton, 60, a molecular biologist at the world-renowned Max Planck Institute in Dresden, Germany, was attending a conference in the town of Chania when she was reported missing
- Greek authorities said a body was discovered on a rough and rocky site inside a World War Two bunker, about 8-10 km from where she was last seen
Greek coast guard search for 15 after migrant boat found adrift
- The two survivors reported that the vessel had become unstable due to bad weather and there was no means of getting shelter, food or water
ATHENS: Greek coast guard were on Monday searching for 15 people who fell into the water from a migrant boat that was found drifting off the coast of Crete with 17 bodies on board.
The 17 fatalities, all of them men, were discovered on Saturday on the craft, which was taking on water and partially deflated, some 26 nautical miles (48 kilometers) southwest of the island.
Post-mortem examinations were being carried out to determine how they died but Greek public television channel ERT suggested they may have suffered from hypothermia or dehydration.
A Greek coast guard spokeswoman told AFP that two survivors reported that “15 people fell in the water” after the motor cut out on Thursday, then the vessel drifted for two days.
At the time, Crete and much of the rest of Greece was battered by heavy rain and storms.
The two survivors reported that the vessel had become unstable due to bad weather and there was no means of getting shelter, food or water.
The vessel had 34 people on board and had left the Libyan port of Tobruk on Wednesday, the Greek port authorities said. Most of those who died came from Sudan and Egypt.
It was initially spotted by a Turkish-flagged cargo ship on Saturday, triggering a search that included ships and aircraft from the Greek coast guard and the European Union border agency Frontex.
Migrants have been trying to reach Crete from Libya for the last year, as a way of entering the European Union. But the Mediterranean crossing is perilous.
In Brussels, the EU’s 27 members on Monday backed a significant tightening of immigration policy, including the concept of returning failed asylum-seekers to “return hubs” outside the bloc.
The UN refugee agency said more than 16,770 asylum seekers in the EU have arrived on Crete since the start of the year — more than any other island in the Aegean Sea.
Greece’s conservative government has also toughened its migration policy, suspending asylum claims for three months, particularly those coming to Crete from Libya.
