Shocking Survivor Testimonies Continue – Harrowing Stories of Losing Their Own People
Charged, sometimes with anger, sometimes with tears in her eyes, the woman who lost her son, parents and brother in the fire testified at the trial for the tragedy in Mati.
Ms. Andriani Kalagiannakisunable to contain her anger, told the judges of the Three-member Misdemeanor Court that the authorities “due to incompetence and poor coordination behaved in such an inhuman way” and “left to the mercy of God” so many people.
“I believe there was a trick,” he said and added that “on the altar of their personal ambitions, they burned alive my child, my brother and my parents.”
The witness testified about what she believes contributed to the fire of July 23, 2018 turning into an inferno, she spoke about the responsibilities of the Police who did not direct the people, about the non-existence of civil protection and the Fire Department who did not notify and let “it fall asleep” the fire of Matiotes” and they let the fire pass through Marathon, for the Coast Guard “who, when fishing boats were pulling people out of the sea, sent cars to Mati”.
He also did not leave unaddressed the phrase that the accused, then regional governor, Rena Dourou had said. Shouting, the witness reported that “Dourou said that something went wrong in her shift. The cynicism of these people! At least let them not talk…”
The woman testified that “the fire caught her family in their sleep”, that she was looking for her family in agony: “They had closed the road and I couldn’t pass. With all their might, they let me pass through the Rafina intersection at half past eleven at night. We started and ran… We went to the hotels, in the port of Rafina. And the next day I hear that twenty-six people were found in a plot of land ..It never crossed my mind that my people would be there. The Red Cross had come to Rafina… I gave the names. The child’s father gave a DNA sample for the child and I for my parents. I believe that in addition to incompetence and poor coordination, there was also the non-existence of the people who are professionals, charged with the protection of human lives.. If five minutes earlier, before the fire passed in Marathon, a police vehicle passed by with a loudspeaker to evacuate it settlement, this tragedy would not have happened. If they had rung bells..,” he said.
THE Anastasios Alexopoulos, father of Ms. Kalagiannakis’ child, said that his mind did not go to evil when he heard about the fire. “We are a civilized country and the services will take over. I couldn’t imagine anything else..But they had been there for two hours and they didn’t do anything..”
The witness went the next morning to Mati. “Ashes everywhere. And a smell of death everywhere. Everything melted.. The metals… I couldn’t believe this was happening. Three days passed, I was looking for my child’s body. We went to Schisto… There were 150 bodies in yellow bags.
‘Pull to see if it’s one of yours’. Then they changed their minds and sent us to Goudi. Then they told us to give DNA and finally they informed me that the child was identified and asked if I want psychological support.. These people were burned alive like mice. Why did they trap the people and lead them into the fires? Why did they let the world burn? Why;”.
The witness Maria Avramidou who lost her mother, sister, son-in-law and nephew in Mati, while she and her daughter were saved by luck, asked the judges to “justly assign the responsibilities”.
“I don’t want someone innocent to be punished. I would like him to be punished who did not do his job well, it is not possible to live in the capital of Greece, in the prefecture of Attica and so many people have been lost. Many of us are the living dead. This pain and loss will never go away. I cannot accept that they left alone and helpless…”
The witness, who had a house in the area, testified that on the day in question, purely by chance, she left Mati with her daughter before the fire broke out, because “my mother and my sister insisted that I leave earlier. Finally I took my daughter and we left at 6 to 5.. I went out to Marathon.. There were no cars, it was as if we were leaving alone.”
As the witness said, while she was already at her home in Athens, she spoke to her mother on the phone for the last time. “He told me that they have made things very difficult, he told me “there are flames in front of me”. I thought it was an exaggeration. I pick up the phone again it was dead. I couldn’t contact any of them.”
The woman described how she started looking for her family, calling the Fire Department and searching hospitals. “Then we hear that some are arriving at the port of Rafina. I was sure I would find them there. In fact, I also took bathrobes and towels, in case they got wet, I was sure I would find them there”, said Mrs. Avramidou.
The next morning the witness went with her other nephew to Mati to look “if we can find something. I faced a bombed out landscape. The image was unimaginable.. The house was completely burnt. I’m going to Kokkino Limanaki. It was a mass of burnt cars. One on top of the other I can’t describe to you.. My nephew found our cars intact, but theirs nowhere. We gave DNA. I had a child, Dimitris, at home, who didn’t even want to hear news, and we were living the wait, waiting to have any news. At one point I see him and he takes a lighter to burn his leg. I tell him what are you doing? ‘Nothing, let me see what they have felt’. On Sunday they told us that all 4 have been identified and that we should go and pick them up from Schistos…”.
The nephew of Mrs. Avramidou, Dimitris Katsoulakis who lost his entire family that afternoon, testified:
“I was in Crete. I learn that a fire has broken out in Kineta. My brother picked me up sometime in the afternoon and told me there was a fire in Crete and to be careful. I say to him “are you ok?” He answers me, yes.
Later, I tried to get my parents they didn’t answer. At 6:30 my godmother calls me and tells me they are trapped. In the morning, my aunt told me to go up to Athens because my family is missing.”
Six days later, his aunt informed the then almost 18-year-old witness that his parents and brother had been identified.
“The cause of death said they were charred. I hadn’t seen anyone. That was the hard part. It was just a piece of paper.. nothing. I had to accept the fact.. They were alone and I had to continue,” testified Mr. Katsoulakis.
RES-EMP
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