A 55-year-old Dutch tourist who had been missing since Monday has been found dead in his car on the Greek island of Crete.

The man’s car was spotted on a cliff edge at the village of Koutsounari near Ierapetra in eastern Crete. Firefighters were called in to retrieve the car, which was in danger of falling over the edge, Greek media reported.

Police are still investigating the cause of death but said the man may have become unwell and tried to open the car door. There are no indications the car ended up on the cliff as a result of a road accident.

The Greek islands which have been unseasonally hot in the last weeks, have seen a spate of possibly heat-related casualties.

A 74-year old Dutchman was found dead in a gorge on Samos last week, while an 80-year-old Belgian tourist succumbed to the heat near an archeological site on Crete. The death toll also includes an American tourist who was found dead on the beach on the island of Mathraki.

Around the same time the body of British 67-year-old doctor and television presenter Michael Mosley was found on the island of Symi. It is thought Mosley took a wrong turn when making his way from the beach to the house where he was staying and was overcome by the heat.

Another American and two French women are still missing.