Sitia

The airport at Iraklio in Crete will be closed between February 19 and 24 as maintenance and repair work is carried out on the runway.

Responding to the announcement, Greek carriers Aegean and Sky Express on Tuesday said that passengers will be rerouted to Hania or Sitia or offered the option of a ferry boat.

Aegean Airlines offered the biggest number of seats in a year ever in 2023, also setting a new passenger record, while occupancy also improved from 2022.

Last year, the airline offered 20% more seats, which amounted to 18.5 million, i.e. 800,000 more than in 2019. It carried 15.5 million passengers, a number that is 26% higher than in 2022.

The Hellenic Coast Guard located and rescued 48 people on Friday after they had been disembarked on a rocky outcropping off Siteia, on the island of Crete. The group was comprised of 35 men, nine women, and four children.

A mother and two newborns were moved to the General Hospital of Agios Nikolaos, while two men and one woman are being treated at the local health center.

New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis will tour the regional units of Lasithi and Iraklio, in Crete, on Tuesday.

At noon, he will visit Sitia, Makris Yalos, Ierapetra and Agios Nikolaos, before visiting Moschos.

At 8 p.m., he will address an open event at Agios Titos square in Iraklio. [AMNA]

The Municipality of Sitia, in the easternmost part of Crete, has seen its Airbnb listings grow recently, with a survey by Tourix showing that by end-March the area east of Agios Nikolaos and Ierapetra hosted 783 listed accommodation facilities, up 7.11% from March 2022, able to host up to 3,297 guests simultaneously.

A tsunami in the sea area southeast of Crete was caused after the earthquake with a magnitude of 6.4 on the Richter scale, according to the Tsunami Warning Service. The Church of Agios Nikolaos in Xyrocampos, Sitia, has collapsed and there have been reports of damage in the wider Sithia area, Kathimerini reported.

A moderate earthquake hit in the sea area off the northeastern coast of Crete early Monday morning.

According to an automated reading of the Athens Geodynamic Institute, the tremor measured 4.3 on the Richter scale and was recorded 52 kilometres off the town of Sitia.

The Euro-Mediterranean Institute gave a preliminary reading of 4.6.

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.4 shook Greece's island of Crete on Wednesday. No damage or injuries were reported.

The University of Athens' Geodynamic Institute said the undersea quake had an epicenter 8 kilometers east of Sitia, a port town at the island's Lasithi region, and occurred at 9.05 a.m. local time. Its depth was 19.4 kilometers.

A fire that broke out on Thursday morning in the area Ahladia of Sitia, in eastern Crete, was burning shrubs and grassland and was fanned by strong winds.

The fire service has deployed 20 firemen with eight vehicles, one team on foot and one water-dropping helicopter.

Houses and wind turbines in the area were not threatened by the flames, authorities said.

The new terminal of Sitia airport “Vitsentzos Kornaros” on Crete will be inaugurated on Wednesday, Jan. 13.

Infrastructures, Transport and Networks Minister Christos Spirtzis will be present at the inauguration ceremony which is scheduled to take place at 12:00. Representatives of the Lasithi region will also attend the ceremony.