Newsroom
A body found Thursday morning near the edge of Paphos State Forest has been identified as the 75-year-old woman missing from Kampos Tsakkistras since Aug. 23.
The identification brought a tragic end to the search for Erato, also known as Tulla, more than a week after her disappearance prompted a large operation involving authorities and volunteer rescue groups.
Search teams had spent days combing forest paths and other difficult terrain, holding on to the hope that she would be found alive and returned safely to her family.
No details about the circumstances of her death were immediately released.
Volunteer groups that took part in the operation posted emotional messages following the identification, describing how a woman many of them had never met gradually became “one of their own.”
The Zeus Volunteer Group said its members began each search hoping it would end with Erato being reunited with the people who loved her.
“We were not fortunate enough to meet you in person. And yet, in these difficult days you became one of our own,” the group wrote.
The Volunteer Emergency Department said its members searched paths and possible locations day after day, setting aside work, exhaustion, and personal obligations. Some knew Tulla personally; others came to know her only through the photograph circulated with appeals for information.
Each morning began with the same thought: “Today we will find her,” the group said.
Although the search did not have the ending volunteers and relatives had prayed for, the groups said Erato’s disappearance brought together people who might otherwise never have met, united by one purpose.
Both organizations offered condolences to her family and those who had spent days waiting for her return.
