The shocking testimony of Panagiotis Konstandakis, who experienced the tragedy and described the horror of the destruction.
By Ioanna Mandrou
Shocking was the testimony in court and at the trial for those responsible for the centenary of the dead in the eye of the lawyer Panagiotis Constantakis, who experienced the tragedy and described the horror of the destruction.
The witness stated that the government at the time knew about the dead, stating that “some things we will never forgive”, while he detailed his experience with the flames.
The witness’s statement in detail:
“I hope no one experiences what we experienced. To be in the morgue and experience the smell of rot and burning only to hear later that everything was done as it should be.” They came and told me 2,000 what to do with them? The prime minister of the country. Some things we will never forgive.
On the day of the fire, I was in my office in Glyfada. I heard about the fire at Dau Pentelis. I grew up in the area and knew it had west and northwest winds. I knew it was a death risk for Mati,” said the witness who immediately contacted his sister’s family who lives in Mati with their mother.
“They tell me ‘everything is fine, we’re watching TV’
At some point when I got home I say let’s turn on the TV and see what’s going on. I see Marathon burning. I recognized the spot was 50 meters from my father’s house. I went crazy! I say it has passed to the Eye, we are burning. I call my sister, she didn’t pick up. I called my mother and my son-in-law answered. I tell him what’s up, where are you? He tells me we are on a small beach. We are fine. I could hear screams and maybe explosions through the phone. I was listening to my sister, she was not well. I asked about the children and they told me they left in another direction. I say where is my mother? Your mother tells me she didn’t make it,” testified the witness.
He then described his family’s journey on the fateful afternoon as told to him by his own people who experienced it. “They started to leave the house when the power went out, around 18.20. They understood that things are bad. They got in the car to leave because of my mother. Going out to the beach they wanted to go to Nea Makri. Unfortunately they were channeling the cars into Mati. When my sister was leaving to go to Nea Makri, they got into a traffic jam of cars that people were abandoning to save themselves from the fire. My sister then turned right. The family was separated. The children went to the harbor and my son-in-law followed my sister and mother. They reached the height of Pericles. They put the car in a recess opposite one of the 14 passageways of Matiou that have access to the beach.”
As he described, at that moment hailstones began to fall and the situation became dangerously difficult. “They walked into a rough spot, in view of moving in smoke they were trying to get into some of the descents to the beaches. At one point there was a large pine tree and my mother tripped over one of the roots. When my sister and son-in-law went to help her, the fire hit my mother. They tried to help her, she had lost consciousness. They went 40 meters and found a descent to the beach and found only 20-30 people. Broken legs, ribs, burns and they stayed there until 12.30 at night without anyone bothering.’
“They knew there were dead people”
The witness expressed the opinion that there were dead people in Mati and they knew it early on, explaining that: “At 18.20 they left the house and my mother “left” at 18.45 and there were already many dead. I found out on 19.10 that we have a dead person. From the information I learned later there were others, at least 10 dead by 19.30. The situation was two singing and three dancing. They knew there were dead people.” At the point of his testimony, the witness burst out, saying that no flying means left to stop the fire at Dau Pentelis. “I am convinced that the Kineta fire that has been burning since morning has also affected the winds. When it started in Penteli, the situation was quite difficult and no aircraft came to stop it”.
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