In Brief
SICK TOURISTS
Dozens of Greeks return from Egypt trip with symptoms of food poisoning Some 60 Greek tourists returning from an Easter holiday in Egypt suffered symptoms of gastroenteritis on their return flight to Thessaloniki, authorities said yesterday. A doctor on board the Egypt Air flight, which was carrying 120 passengers, treated the tourists until the plane landed at 3.15 a.m. Three women were taken to the hospital once the plane touched down in Greece but were not in any danger and were discharged soon afterward. Doctors suspect the illness suffered by the tourists was caused by food poisoning. BANK HEIST Police on Kos seek armed duo who netted some 100,000 euros in raid Two armed men held up a branch of Alpha Bank on the Aegean island of Kos and made away with nearly 100,000 euros in cash, police said. The men, who wore baseball caps and sunglasses, held up the bank at 8.10 a.m. and escaped the scene on a stolen motorcycle. Authorities said they have stepped up checks at the island’s port and airport in a bid to stop the men from escaping from the island. Also yesterday, two armed assailants netted 13,600 euros after robbing a branch of National Bank in Yiannitsa, northern Greece. No one was reported to have been hurt in either of the bank raids. TILOS RESOLUTION Residents suspend ferry protests Residents of Tilos, an island in the Dodecanese, yesterday suspended their protests demanding more frequent ferry services for the island after officials from the Southern Aegean regional authority pledged to find the money needed to subsidize sea links with nearby Rhodes. Tilos residents had blockaded the island’s port for almost three weeks demanding a more regular ferry service to help local businesses survive. Bad camp chow Cyprus on Tuesday launched a probe into why guests at an Orthodox Easter celebration at an army camp complained of food poisoning after the event, which was attended by President Tassos Papadopoulos. Relatives who visited their sons at Stavrovouni national guard camp near the southern town of Larnaca claimed they suffered mild food poisoning. However, the authorities are playing down the allegations, saying very few – of the hundreds that attended – visited hospital casualty departments, while those who did showed only mild symptoms of a stomach bug. The government dismissed any suggestion that the president was feeling fine only because he received a meal catered from outside. (AFP) Canteens closed Authorities in the prefecture of Hania, on Crete, yesterday shut down nine beach canteens two years after a court ruled that they were illegal. The owners of the canteens complained that they had only been informed last Wednesday of the intention by local authorities to shut down the canteens, which stretch from Aghioi Apostoloi to Stalos. Cannabis haul Police near the border with Albania yesterday confiscated just under 100 kilograms of cannabis following an inspection on a car in the small town of Filiates in Thesprotia. A Greek man who was driving the car has been arrested and police are searching for another man believed to have been involved in transporting the drugs. Separately police in Keramitsa, also in Thesprotia, discovered two sacks containing a total of 25 kilos of cannabis. The sacks had been hidden under bushes in a remote area. Shepherdess found A 69-year-old female shepherd was rescued yesterday after injuring herself when she fell down a ravine in the Potamia area in the Argolid, authorities said. A large search operation, including a team of 14 firefighters, local residents and rescue workers, had been launched to find the woman. Ferry hitch A high-speed passenger ferry due to leave the island of Santorini for Piraeus yesterday was delayed by six hours after the vessel was found to have suffered a mechanical failure. The Super Jet ferry carried out a test run in Santorini’s harbor before receiving the Port Authority’s permission to set off for Piraeus.
