Five people, mostly aged over 70, died of drowning while swimming off beaches across Greece Thursday, authorities said.
The Coast Guard said two Greek men aged 76 and 60 drowned near Almyros and Pteleos in Thessaly, while another 70-year-old Greek man died swimming off Kalogria near the city of Patra in the northwestern Peloponnese.
In the Greater Athens region, an 80-year-old Greek man drowned at Porto Rafti, and an unidentified woman was found dead in the sea at Loutsa.
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 lifeguards and most victims are in their sixties or older.
