Bid to rein in tourists on Crete
A Dutch tourist fell 8 meters from his hotel room balcony on Crete and was being treated in the hospital in Iraklion for serious head injuries and broken bones yesterday in the latest incident involving injuries to tourists on the island. The man had arrived at the hotel in Hersonissos on Wednesday and fell from the balcony at about 2 a.m. yesterday. Witnesses told police that he was drunk. The unnamed 26-year-old’s fall came just a week after another tourist, a 17-year-old Briton, fell from a balcony at a hotel in Malia. The coastal resort of Malia, near Iraklion, has been the focus of repeated incidents involving tourists and has become notorious for the drunken and aggressive behavior of visitors, particularly from Britain, who frequent many of the bars along the main strip, known as the Malia Mile where they can buy drinks for as little as 1 euro. It is not just alcohol that is causing problems in the area. Five British tourists were arrested for possession of cannabis on Wednesday in the latest incident involving drugs in Malia. Earlier this week, Iraklion prosecutor Nikos Markakis wrote to the police, the fire service and the financial crime squad in a bid to reign in the behavior of tourists and the local nightclub and bar owners who serve them. Markakis asked the police to conduct more regular patrols in Malia in a bid to ensure behavior does not get out of hand. A number of Britons are already counting the cost of losing control while on vacation at the resort. A 19-year-old British woman, Charlotte Robinson, is being treated in a hospital in Crete after falling off a scooter last Friday. She was not wearing a helmet and had been drinking before the accident. Her insurance company has refused to cover the cost of bringing her home because the fact that she had been drinking invalidated her policy. Another British man, Dean Willis, a 23-year-old DJ from Derby, is also trying to raise the money to return to England after being knocked off his moped. Willis broke his leg and ribs but does not have travel insurance.
