Four people drowned swimming in various parts of Greece within the past 24 hours, the Coast Guard said Sunday, while a fifth body was found in the port of Piraeus but the circumstances of the person’s death were not immediately clear.
Most of the drowning victims were in their fifties and sixties, and two were Greeks while the others were foreign nationals. In all four cases efforts were made at resuscitation but they were declared dead on arrival in hospital.
Summer drownings are a largely overlooked cause of death in Greece. Research shows that most occur between noon and 1 a.m. at beaches without lifegiards and most victims are in their sixties or older.
A Coast Guard statement said the four victims in incidents reported Saturday were a 49-year-old man from Belarus who drowned off Gardeno Vitaladon near Lefkimmi on Corfu, a 69-year-old Greek woman who died off Tolo in the Argolid region of the Peloponnese, a 55-year-old Greek man off Nea Chora near Hania on Crete and a 64-year-old Italian man off Arkassa on Karpathos.
Also, the Coast Guard said the body of a man in his sixties was found floating in the port of Piraeus.
