So far the search for the missing 23-year-old snowboarder at Seli of Imathia, whose traces have been lost since noon on Monday.

The search operation began shortly after 6:30 p.m. when the fire department was notified of the skier’s disappearance.

The young man from Kilkis was reportedly skiing on various slopes of the ski resort alone when his traces disappeared.

A few hours later, after the 23-year-old did not return, his friends informed the authorities that they could not locate him for hours.

“We didn’t find anything on the slopes, we’re searching the woods”

As Lakis Meliopoulos, the manager of the ski resort in Seli, said shortly after 6:30 this morning, Tuesday, “The slopes have all been checked and we have not found anything, now we are operating in the forest, outside the ski resort.”

According to him, “It was a good day (yesterday), there is no excuse for his disappearance, it was good temperatures. Young kids don’t realize what dangers there are off the slopes.”

“We will search on foot, we are searching with thermal cameras, with drones, we hope for the best,” concluded Mr. Meliopoulos.

With thermal cameras, drone, and dogs the searches

Rescuers’ investigations are focusing on the ski slopes where the 18-year-old skier reportedly moved.

The EMAK forces are constantly reinforced with new drones with thermal cameras and dogs. Volunteers, the Greek rescue team, the Red Cross, and residents of Selios are also involved in the search.

Reapers and snowmobiles are “combing” the mountain in and out of the pistes with no results so far, while more than 16 hours have passed since the last contact.

As the president of the municipal community of Kato Vermio – Selio, Giorgios Farsarotos, said the rescuers fortunately do not have to face adverse weather conditions in the battle to locate the 18-year-old.

In particular, the temperature at an altitude of 1,800 meters on the mountain in the evening did not drop below zero and ranged from 1 to 5 degrees Celsius.

“His company is still here and he is the brother of the missing man,” Farsartos added.

How the skier disappeared

According to the information of veriotis.gr, the young man from Kilkis, went with his group of 4-5 people from Thessaloniki, to Seli for skiing on the day of Christmas. The young man, who was snowboarding, at some point walked away from his group to explore the slopes of the ski resort.

His whereabouts disappeared after the resort closed, with his group alerting the authorities as time passed, their friend did not return and they were unable to contact him.

According to the local authority of Selios, Giorgos Farsarotos, who has been on the mountain since the first moment and is constantly updated by the authorities, the slopes are not very large and it is likely that there will be a development in the searches in the coming hours. However, with an update at 04:35 had still no traces of the 23-year-old skier.