Hopes fade for British expat who vanished from Greek beach

Search parties to be called off

- By Paul Jeeves Crime Editor

HOPES were last night fading for a British woman who vanished from a Greek beach while her husband was asleep on a sunbed.

The Greek authorities mounted a desperate land-and-sea search for Michele Ann Joy Bourda, 59, who had been swimming at Ofrynio beach in the city of Kavala last Friday before disappearing without trace.

Police conducted a search on land for the missing tourist, while Greece's Hellenic Coast Guard have been focusing on the sea aided by local fishing vessels.

However rescuers were set to call off the operation at the end of yesterday's daylight.

The couple had been lounging on sunbeds in temperatures nudging 35C on the picturesque northern Greek beach that is surrounded by expansive fields, residential houses and a huge fishing pond, when Ms Bourda went for a swim.