The girlfriend of a missing former Los Angeles police officer is accusing Greek authorities of doing little to find him, forcing his loved ones to rush to the Mediterranean country and launch their own rescue operation.
“I’m really disgusted by the way we’ve been treated,” Debbie Lechene told The Washington Post on Monday.
Albert Carivet, 59, a former Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy, went missing last Tuesday while hiking on the island of Amorgos, one of seven tourists who have gone missing or been killed in Greece this month.
“Albert has been a paramedic since he was 25 years old. Everybody deserves a search, but he really, really deserves a search,” Lechene said by phone from the island.
She made the 32-hour journey to Greece with her brother, Oliver, and two members of the Los Angeles County Search and Rescue Team.
They formed their own search team with three local friends and family members and have been searching throughout their waking hours on the scorching hot cliffs.
Temperatures on the island have topped 100 degrees over the past week.
“Slivers literally went through my shoe and into my foot. I can’t believe it. It’s the seventh day and I’m beyond panicked,” she said.
Lechane said he was shocked at the minimal effort local authorities had made to search for Kalibet, saying they only flew a helicopter over the area for just two hours the day after Kalibet went missing.
Promises to increase searches using drones, sniffer dogs and helicopters have gone unfulfilled.
Leshane and Kalibet’s brother, Oliver, offered to cover the costs of a helicopter flight and the use of search dogs to help save their life, but this request was also rejected.
Lechane said a search dog has already “may have saved his life.”
Leschene and Carivet’s friends start their search at 5 a.m. each day and finish late into the night strategizing for the next search and rescue hike.
But Greek authorities don’t seem to work after dark, she said.
Their attitude seemed to be: “We’ll go to bed and let Albert sleep outside,” she said.
Kalibet, a veteran hiker with dual Greek citizenship, set out on the hike at about 7 a.m. on Tuesday but did not reach his destination as planned, about four hours later. by Greek Reporter.
His last known communication was a trail sign text he sent to his sister.
Carivet also called Lechene as he was about to leave for a hike, and after waking up the next morning with no response to his text messages, he realized something was wrong.
Lechane said he tried to request his cellphone records from authorities to see if Carivet had attempted to communicate with anyone else, but was told it was illegal to search his cellphone’s location records.
Lechane also criticized the U.S. Embassy in Athens for not helping to carry out more aggressive search efforts.
“The United States has failed too,” she said.
Still, seven days later, searchers remain vigilant in Carivet, continuing every effort to find loved ones.
“I plan on staying here until I find the love of my life,” Lechene said.
