The partner of Albert Calibet, an American tourist who is currently missing on Amorgos Island, Greece has hit out at the search efforts for him.
Calibet was reported missing last week (11 June) after going for a hike by himself in hot conditions.
Debbie Leshane told the New York Post she was “totally disgusted” with the way local officials had treated her. She claimed that local authorities weren’t doing enough to find Albert, saying that Calibet’s friends and family members had traveled to the island to mount their own search for him.
She said they were out so long that they had “splinters going through our shoes into our feet” from being outside and searching so long.
Leshane claimed that a helicopter was deployed in the search for Albert for just two hours on the day her partner went missing, and that promises for more helicopter searches along with the deployment of drones and sniffer dogs had gone unfulfilled.
She said that she and Albert’s brother Oliver had offered to pay Greek authorities to fly helicopters and bring in sniffer dog teams, but they had been turned down.
Leshane claimed that her group started their searches each day at 5 am and stayed out until late at night, alleging that Greek authorities didn’t want to work that long, claiming they’d adopted a “let’s just go to bed and let Albert sleep outside” attitude.
Brother of missing American in Greece blasts the US
In an emotional YouTube video Oliver Calibet, the brother of the missing American, who is also in the Greek island blamed the US authorities for doing nothing to find Albert.
He said that Greece is doing what it can with its limited resources, but “I don’t know why the US can’t come here and help. The US is doing nothing.”
He continued: “This is a small little island. He should have been found days ago if the US had put in a little, a tiny little effort.”
In the video, Oliver Calibet disputed the official version of the search and rescue operation. “I have yet to see a helicopter. I have seen some drones and a few people searching in the trails. But this is the Greek government. I can’t be mad with them. They do what they can. I am mad with the US. I need help. This is a US citizen who needs to be brought home.”
On Sunday a missing American tourist Toby Sheets was found dead on a beach on a small Greek island west of Corfu.
The New York Times reported that a 55-year-old Floral Park native, who was identified by TDN as Sheets, had been last seen on Tuesday, and that his body was found on the beach on Sunday.
According to the Associated Press, the tourist had “been seen Tuesday at a cafe in the company of two female tourists who have since left the island.”