Sources told Greek media they believe they saw Michele Ann Joy Bourda leaving the beach as the search for the missing British tourist stretches into its sixth day
A British woman who vanished six days ago from a sunbed on a beach in Greece was spotted walking away from the scene, according to new eyewitness accounts.
Michele Ann Joy Bourda, 59, had been swimming at Ofrynio beach in the city of Kavala at around noon on Friday before she disappeared. Her husband Christos, who is Greek, had fallen asleep beside his wife and woke up to find her missing, with her belongings still in place.
While some on the beach, including a sports instructor, claim they saw Michele swimming, others now say they spotted her walking away from the beach, according to local outlet Ilia Live. No further detail has been provided about these claims. A targeted land and sea search for Michele ceased on Monday night, according to the central port authority in Kavala. It comes after a major search is underway for a missing UK-based journalist who was last seen setting off for a hike in Norway.
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A photograph released by Greek TV channel ANT1 reportedly shows Michele’s last sighting. She is seen having a snack and chatting to her husband at a cafe close to the beach just three hours before her disappearance. In the image, Michele appears to be wearing a dark swimming costume and sunglasses, while her husband wears a white cap. Authorities have described her as a 5’10” woman of slim build with blue eyes and shoulder-length hair.
When Christos realised his wife was missing, he asked the owners of a nearby shop if they had seen her, but had no joy, reports Greek outlet Protothema. One of the shop owners told the outlet: “The couple were together and at some point the husband fell asleep and it seems that the wife went in to swim. When the husband woke up and didn’t see her next to him, he came to the store and asked us if we had seen his wife, who had disappeared.”
A sports instructor claims he saw someone who matched Michele’s description swimming in deep waters on Friday and told her not to swim any further, according to LBC.
Michele is described as adventurous and active by her neighbours in Glasgow. One neighbour previously told Mail Online: “They’ve got bikes, and are quite active. They like to go walking, they like to go wild swimming.
“They would go, and they would often be away for the whole day in the summer, and then if we saw them coming in and out and they would say, ‘oh, we’ve been somewhere up north and we were swimming’. And I would see her sometimes sit and reading in the garden.”
Another neighbour added: “The couple are very private and keep themselves to themselves. She is very quiet and timid and he is a bit more commanding. They moved to Glasgow about six years ago because their son is studying here.
“They are retired and tend to go everywhere together even though they have two cars. They are quite guarded and private but I’m very shocked that she has gone missing.”