Deathly silence spread over the villages of Agios Vassiliou province after the funerals of the 21 girls, in a day of mourning for the entire prefecture of Rethymno
By Nikos Tsefliou
They were all schoolgirls of the first three classes of Spili Gymnasium. Girls 13 and 15 years old. They came from semi-mountainous villages in the province of Agios Vassiliou in Rethymnon. They longed for this day trip to Georgioupolis.
The seaside village echoed with the laughter of the happy crowd that arrived just before noon in three coaches. And suddenly Spili, Myxorrouma, Dariviana, Kentrohori, Kissos, Mourne, Lambrini they fell into mourning, saying goodbye to the 21 schoolgirls, some dressed in the blue school apron and others in bridal gowns. From end to end a mourning net was spread, like the one in which most of them got entangled when they fell into the sea, when the fishing boat in which they had been piled for a ride on the open capsized…
It was 6:30 in the morning on Thursday, May 4, 1972, when the buses started from Spili with 126 students and five accompanying teachers. After a stop at the sources of Agia Dynami in Argyroupoli and another one at Lake Kourna, they arrived in Georgioupolis.
At noon they sat under the trees to eat. Some girls walked to the jetty at the mouth of the Almyros River, where two small fishing boats, “The Two Georges” and “The Two Brothers”, were moored.
They asked the professors to allow them to take a walk to where a fleet tug was moored. The students were divided into boats, 15 boys boarded one and as many girls boarded the other, under the supervision of the teachers. The sea was calm, the boatmen seemed to know their business and the children enjoyed the sea ride. As soon as the first “bakery” returned, the teachers went to Papadaki’s tavern for food. Before leaving, they pointed out to the students “not to enter the boats more than the boatmen allow”.
The boys’ boat quickly refilled and headed out into the open. However, there was a panic in the “Two Georges”! All the girls wanted to get on board, some for the second time. 26-year-old Nikos Kordatzakis took his partner’s 20-year-old brother with him as an assistant, to cut a ticket for 5 drachmas and upload 27 girls! He did not think for a moment that the 6-meter boat was a fishing boat and did not have a license to transport passengers, since it had neither a stability certificate, nor a dinghy, nor life jackets and fire extinguishers. Half a mile from shore, the engine died, probably because the exhaust, which had been lowered by the weight, watered. A small wave from the boys’ boat splashed half the girls, who got up to move to the other side. And then the bad thing happened… The fishing boat tilted and overturned. Within seconds it sank. Panic scenes followed as the 27 girls found themselves in the sea, some trying to stay afloat, others struggling to break free from the foam seals. Only six made it…
The second boat with the boys he approached the spot, flew “flabby,” but he could not help the contemplation of the girls, for there was danger that it too would be overturned. She returned to the pier for the students to disembark and pulled out into the open again. But precious time had been lost. Only Nikos and Yiannis Vavoulakis were left, who were fishing nearby with their trawler, fighting to save as many schoolgirls as they could…
Among the victims of this tragedy were two sisters from Myxorrouma, Evangelia and Emilia Doulgerakis, as well as their cousin Katerina. For another 18 children, time stopped at 13.40, as was seen from the watch worn by 15-year-old Garifalia Hatzidaki… A helicopter from the 115th Combat Command also arrived in the area. However, the only student who rescued the crew, 13-year-old Chrysoula Theodosaki, breathed her last before reaching the hospital…
It was now afternoon, when the children’s parents were notified to go to the Rethymno hospital, where scenes of insanity unfolded.
The two fishermen and the five accompanying teachers were taken to the port authority of Chania, who undertook the preliminary investigation and filed a case against them. “13-14 children entered the first three boats and everything went well,” the High School theologian told reporters. “We saw that there was no security problem. Since the boatmen on the first routes did not get any money, we thought they would stop burning their oil, so we went for dinner. How can we imagine that they would put 27 children in the boat…”
Death silence spread over the villages of the province of Agios Vassiliou after the funerals of the 21 girls, in a day of mourning for the entire prefecture of Rethymno. “Now we have two stumps left…”, said 70-year-old Stelios Koumentakis from Spili, saying goodbye to his 13-year-old daughter Katerina. He and his wife had acquired her in old age and she was their support… All seven defendants were remanded in custody after their apologies, in the Chania correctional prison. The harbor master’s report that saw the light of day, specifically stated: “The 6.20-meter-long and 2.30-meter-wide boat could not carry passengers, due to the lack of rudimentary life-saving equipment and space for staying and sitting. If properly equipped, it could carry 8-10 passengers within a safe bay and close to shore. The boat was in marginal stability. It was enough to move everything by 15 centimeters for it to topple over”…
A month after the tragic incident, all seven defendants were released from prison. The decision of the Appeals Council of Chania acquitted the home economics teacher who at the time of the accident had left with a group of students and the assistant – collector of the fishing boat. Nikos Kordatzakis and the four teachers sat on the bench of the Three-member Criminal Court of Chania in October 1972. After a four-day hearing, the court sentenced the former to 5 years in prison and monetary compensation of 20,000 drachmas for each victim, and the teachers to 4 years in prison for “unconscionable serial manslaughter”. All appealed and were released. The Court of Appeal of Chania where the case was heard in second instance, in September 1973, reduced their sentences. He sentenced the lembucho to 3 years in prison and the teachers to 12-18 months in prison. In fact, the teachers appealed to the Supreme Court, but their request to appeal the sentence was rejected.
Source: Skai
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