Elderly man dies following beach brawl over sun bed in Greece

An 82-year-old man has died after a brawl over a sun bed on a beach in Greece, according to reports.

The elderly man had arrived at Vouliagmeni beach, near Athens, before 10am on Sunday hoping to secure a lounger, but he soon began arguing with another man, aged 76.

When it became clear there were not enough beds for all, the row escalated into a violent fight, with the younger man allegedly hitting the victim, who then suffered a heart attack, according to TA NEA.

Other beachgoers raced to the scene when they heard loud screams, and police was called. Emergency services could not revive the victim and he was taken to Asklepieion Hospital in Voula, where he died an hour later.

Police have launched an investigation into what led to the fatal incident, and are interviewing a number of people who were at the beach at the time.

“It was chaos. I had never heard the woman's screams before . They were heard all the way to the other end,” a witness told TA NEA.

“We saw them beating a man, another man, a woman beating him, and then we see them giving him CPR . And all this for a deck chair and a chair.”

Another insisted that despite the usual tensions over the availability of loungers on beaches, they had “never seen anything like this before."

A beachgoer told In.gr that the disagreement blew out out of proportions when the older man had allegedly slapped a 21-year-old woman who was accompanying the second man.

“It seems that people who were with [the assailant] also participated,” ERT, the country’s state broadcaster, reported earlier.

Police arrested the 76-year-old man and the 21-year-old woman, who was later released. The man has since been charged with causing fatal bodily harm and is expected to appear in court later today, Kathimerini newspaper reported. The two groups are not believed to have known each other.

As tourism has boomed in Greece, reports of disputes over loungers and umbrellas have increased. Since 2024, authorities have also been using drones and a complaints app to crack down on illegal sunbeds placed by private businesses, which often exceed the limits of their permits.

Separately, Greece’s financial and environmental ministries said in a joint statement in April that it is increasing the number of its “untouched beaches” to 250.

This means that loungers, loud music and watersports will be banned to protect natural beauty.