French tourist, 41, dies after Balos–Falasarna hike amid Crete heatwave
A 41-year-old French woman died on Sunday afternoon after losing consciousness while hiking the Balos–Falasarna trail in Chania, in what local mountaineering officials say is one of the most demanding sections of the E4 European long-distance path. The death is the most serious of three heat-related hiking incidents reported across Crete that day, as temperatures locally reached 40°C.
According to the account given to Neا Kriti, the woman and her partner had set out to cross the trail earlier in the day despite the high temperatures. The couple reached the Balos lagoon and began the return leg, but the woman lost consciousness about one kilometer before the parking area where their car was left.
A crew from the Kissamos Fire Service and the Hellenic Mountain Rescue Team (EMODE) was dispatched to the scene, with firefighters attempting to revive her while awaiting the rescuers’ arrival. She was then taken by an ambulance from the local health center and transferred toward Chania hospital, but died during transport. The probable cause of death was heatstroke and dehydration.
“One of the most difficult sections of the E4”
Stavros Badogiannis, president of the Chania Mountaineering Club, described the Balos–Falasarna route as one of the hardest parts of the E4 path. He said that had the woman lost consciousness at a different point along the trail, the rescue and transport operation would have been far more difficult.
Badogiannis said the trail “is bare, without trees and therefore without shade; crossing it takes more than five hours and requires very good preparation. It runs far from the sea — in places 400 meters away — it is rocky, and movement is not easy.” He added that hikers attempting the route need “plenty of water, a hat, suitable clothing and appropriate shoes.”
Two more incidents the same day
The fatal incident occurred on a day of extremely high temperatures in Chania, with conditions described as prohibitive for walking the region’s difficult trails. Despite repeated advice from the Mountaineering Club, dozens of incidents have been recorded since the start of summer on trails in the White Mountains, along the E4, and elsewhere in Crete, at a time when the region’s heatwave has continued with little relief.
Two further incidents were reported on Sunday, prompting responses from the National Center for Emergency Care (EKAB) and the Fire Service. In the morning, a 43-year-old hiker felt severe faintness and nausea while walking through the Imbros Gorge. A fire service team was called, located the man, and moved him to a safe point where an EKAB ambulance took over his care.
Separately, a 53-year-old man fell and was injured while hiking a difficult section near the Agia Fotini cave in the Avdou area.
Authorities have not announced changes to hiking advisories following the incidents, though officials elsewhere in Crete have previously raised questions over the weather-related criteria used to close difficult routes such as the Samaria Gorge during periods of extreme heat.
