Wednesday July 13, 2011

British tourist stabbed to death in Greek resort

ATHENS (Reuters) - A Greek taxi driver stabbed and killed a British tourist on the Ionian holiday island of Zakynthos, and witnesses said violence flared after a group of youths angered two men by shining laser torches at them.

The 19-year-old Briton and his friends, all of them in their twenties, were rushed to hospital early on Wednesday morning.

"He used a knife and stabbed all five. One of them died, the other four were hospitalised but they are not in a serious condition," said a police official, declining to be named. Another official said the deceased was stabbed in the heart.

Witnesses said that the fight broke out when the tourists pointed lasers at the two Greek men, aged 21 and 25, eating in a restaurant in the popular resort of Laganas. The police did not name any of those involved in the incident.

"One of the taxi drivers confessed and showed police where the knife was," the official said, adding that both drivers were arrested and were expected to appear before the prosecutor within the day.

There were no further details immediately available.

Greece welcomes 15 million tourists each year, nearly a fifth of them British. Many coastal resorts have become plagued by the violent and rowdy behaviour of some drunken holidaymakers.

(Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou and Renee Maltezou, editing by Peter Millership)

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Wednesday July 13, 2011

British tourist stabbed to death in Greek resort