A 79-year-old British holidaymaker has died after suffering a medical emergency on board a cruise ship off the coast of Crete. The man was found unconscious on the vessel’s deck by other passengers on Tuesday morning, the Hellenic Coast Guard confirmed. Despite immediate first aid at the ship’s medical clinic, he was pronounced dead after being taken by ambulance to a private medical facility in Chania, the port town on the island’s northwest coast.
Chania Port Authority has launched an investigation into the circumstances of the death and ordered a post-mortem examination, according to Greek state broadcaster ERT News. The cruise ship was sailing in the Mediterranean and had docked at Crete’s Port of Souda, a busy hub that handles hundreds of cruise ships each year.
“British tourist, 79, dies after being found unconscious on cruise ship deck off Crete”
The man has not been named, and no further details about his medical emergency have been released. The incident echoes the death of another British passenger earlier this month on a cruise ship near Corfu – a 67-year-old who was on a vessel flying the Maltese flag. Crete, Greece’s largest island, welcomes hundreds of cruise ships annually, with Heraklion the busiest port seeing over 300,000 passengers each year, followed by Souda.
The Foreign Office has been approached for comment, and the investigation is ongoing.