A major rescue operation was carried out Thursday afternoon in the Sfinari area of Kissamos, in western Crete, after an American tourist injured her leg while hiking.
The woman was walking along the trail connecting Sfinari beach with Platanakia beach when she was injured and became unable to continue.
Thirteen firefighters with six vehicles were deployed to the area and reached the tourist roughly halfway along the rugged trail. They safely carried her out of the difficult terrain.
Because of the area’s landscape, a private boat was also brought in to assist with the evacuation. The vessel transported the woman to the port of Sfinari, where an ambulance took her for medical treatment.
The rescue is the latest in a series of incidents involving hikers and tourists in Greece’s rugged landscapes. To Vima reported in April that a Swiss tourist injured while hiking in the remote Vikos Gorge required helicopter evacuation because the terrain prevented a ground rescue.
In May, emergency crews rescued an American tourist who became stranded on steep cliffs above Navagio beach on Zakynthos, while another difficult rescue was carried out at the Fonias waterfalls on Samothrace after a woman was injured in a fall.
In June, 21 firefighters and specialist mountain-rescue team members spent the night evacuating a seriously injured 62-year-old hiker after he fell from a cliff in a remote forested area near Kalavryta.
The incidents highlight the challenges faced by emergency crews in Greece’s mountainous and coastal terrain, particularly at popular hiking destinations where difficult access can complicate rescues.
