The husband of a British woman who vanished from a beach in Greece has described how he was mocked when he frantically pleaded for help. Chris Bourda, 66, dozed off on a sun lounger at Ofrynio beach in Kavala and woke to find his wife, 59-year-old Michele Ann Joy Bourda, had disappeared. Her belongings, including her towel, remained on the lounger, but she was nowhere to be found.
Speaking from Kavala, Chris, a pharmacist, said: 'Unfortunately I fell asleep and when I woke up she wasn't there... I went back to the waiter to say my wife was missing, have you seen her and he started laughing.' He eventually convinced a shopkeeper to help him and call the police. The couple, who met at university 36 years ago and have been married for decades, live in Glasgow.
Chris has criticised the Greek police for their lack of urgency in searching for his wife. He claimed he did not see a single police officer on the beach the day she went missing, a claim echoed by a fellow hotel guest. 'The police didn't do anything on the day. One guest who was there that day said she didn't see any police and I didn't see any police that day either, not one single policeman at the beach. The only thing I saw was a police car driving up and down the road to the beach. Not getting out of the car, just looking in the direction of the sea,' he said.
Recalling the day Michele vanished, Chris said his partner was 'quite happy' and they had been for a swim in the sea. Michele, who worked at BT before working at a local council, had flown out to Greece with Chris for a two-week holiday last month. Chris has been searching tirelessly: 'I have been searching without sleep or anything. Day and night, especially early in the morning. For days and nights I have gone up down the coast, searched bushes, olive groves, empty houses, building sites, later I went to the hills, nothing.'
He now fears for other tourists visiting the area. 'If they are alive, as they say, she is very vulnerable. She has no shoes, clothes, money, glasses or medication. She must be hiding somewhere... Tomorrow it will be a whole week since she went missing and I think surely someone will have helped her with food or water.' Michele is described as 5ft 6in, slim, with blue eyes and shoulder-length hair, last seen wearing a rhinestone-embellished two-piece beaded swimsuit, yellow beach shoes and red horn-rimmed sunglasses. A sports instructor who claimed he saw a woman resembling Michele swimming in deep waters has reportedly withdrawn his statement to police.
