Four hikers who went missing on Christmas Day have been found dead after being buried by an avalanche in the Vardousia Mountains in central Greece.
The bodies of three men and a woman were discovered on Friday evening following a large-scale search operation in the Fokida region, as reported by Greek state broadcaster ERT.
Fire authorities located the bodies, partially covered by snow, on a steep and inaccessible slope near the summit of Korakas peak, approximately 2,000m (6,561ft) in altitude. Rescue officials confirmed that the group had been swept away by the avalanche.
Officials noted that the climbers had started their ascent in favorable conditions, but weather quickly deteriorated as they gained altitude.
Vasilis Vathrakogiannis, a spokesperson for the Hellenic Fire Service, detailed that the alarm was raised by a friend of the three men after they failed to return as expected. He added that the difficult weather conditions, including low temperatures and poor visibility, complicated search operations using drones and helicopters.
A fire service ground team was later able to locate the bodies of the three men and the woman, who was confirmed to be a friend of one of the hikers and had not originally planned to join the climb.
Recovery operations continued on Saturday, described by officials as a daunting task. One body was airlifted successfully, while efforts focused on retrieving the remaining three from the mountainous area with the aid of a winch.
Haris Asariotakis, head of the Hellenic Rescue Team on-site, noted the harshness of the terrain, stating, It is about three hours from the village of Athanasios Diakos, at an altitude of 2,000m. If the helicopter cannot reach the area, we will descend on foot along with firefighters and mountain guides.
Additional reporting by Kostas Koukoumakas
