ATHENS: The body of a missing British scientist has been found in a ravine on the Greek island of Ikaria two days after she disappeared, Greek public television reported on Wednesday.
The cause of death of Nicosia-based astrophysicist Natalie Christopher, who had been on holiday with her partner, was not yet determined, the ERT channel said.
Greek police had been searching for the 35-year-old after she reportedly failed to return from a run on Monday.
A Greek police spokeswoman earlier told AFP that police had late Tuesday joined Ikaria port patrols, firefighters and volunteers already looking for the scientist.
According to Greek and Cypriot media, Christopher and her 38-year-old Cypriot partner had arrived on the Aegean island on Saturday and stayed near the port of Agios Kirykos. She left their hotel for a jog on Monday morning but never returned, her partner told media.
“The couple talked by phone around 10:00 am (0700 GMT) and she said she had gone for a run in the neighborhood,” a police spokesman told Cypriot television.
The Cyprus Mail website said Christopher’s companion notified the police that she had not returned at around 12:40 pm, while other press reports said her phone has been traced to the island of Fournoi, about 10 kilometers (six miles) away, without saying how it might have got there.
Greek media reports also said traces of blood had been found in the couple’s hotel room and were being examined.
Christopher, well known in Cyprus as an active sportswoman, was involved in several social media projects, including one — “Cyprus Girls Can” — which aims to break down barriers between Greek and Turkish youngsters on the divided island.
The incident comes three weeks after the murder of US molecular biologist Suzanne Eaton on the Greek island of Crete.
The 59-year-old had been attending a conference near the city of Chania and gone out on July 2 without taking her mobile phone, the police said.
Her body was found six days later in an abandoned World War II bunker near the town of Chania.
A 27-year-old farmer confessed to raping and killing Eaton, who had worked for the Max Planck Institute at Dresden University.
Missing British scientist found dead in Greece
Missing British scientist found dead in Greece
- Body of missing British scientist Natalie Christopher found in ravine on Greek island of Ikaria
- Greek police had been searching for Christopher after she reportedly failed to return from a run on Monday
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.
