Authorities on the Greek island of Crete have launched a search for a missing American scientist who had been attending a conference there this week.

Suzanne Eaton, a 59-year-old molecular biologist at the Max Planck Institute in Dresden, Germany, has been missing since Tuesday near the port of Chania. Colleagues at the conference told authorities they believed she had gone for a run in the area. A public notice of her disappearance has been posted in Greece.

Police and firefighters, joined by local volunteers, on Friday searched an area near the village of Kolymbari outside Chania.

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Emily Kappes, a cousin of the missing scientist, told The Associated Press that Eaton's husband and two sons had traveled to Crete to assist in the search.