The news that her son was working at the grill and making deliveries on his bicycle in the heat was confirmed by the mother of the 46-year-old, who passed away after showing symptoms of heatstroke.

“My child came from work. He worked in a steakhouse, delivered on his bike. And he came and I didn’t understand him. She was throwing my shirt, she couldn’t speak,” she told eviaonline.gr.

“We got Mr. Leonardo and he says ‘probably heat stroke. Put a towel on his forehead and take him to the hospital.’ We called the ambulance but until it came, the child did not understand anything. The child was shaking. He was not communicating. He drew blood from the mouth. The ambulance came and we took him to the hospital. He had the first cardiac arrest, we restarted it and he had the second one and passed away,” said the mother of the unfortunate man in shock.

Ad. Georgiadis for 46-year-old: Uninsured and undeclared worker

For his part, the Minister of Labor and Social Security Adonis Georgiades speaking to ERT, he admitted that the 46-year-old distributor who died of heatstroke in Chalkida was an uninsured and undeclared worker. Mr. Georgiadis stated that from the first moment the incident became known, the Labor Inspectorate conducted an investigation into the circumstances under which he lost his life.

“This man, a poor man, used his bicycle to run various errands in various businesses in this area, where he worked as an uninsured and undeclared worker,” said Mr. Georgiadis, pointing out that the exact incident is being investigated by the Greek Police.

However, as he said, “we still cannot impose fines since there was no complaint from the man’s family”. However, as he stated, there was subsequently a complaint from the labor union and the police called for an explanation the owner of a grill where the unfortunate worker ran errands the day before.

Speaking about the protection of workers in extreme weather conditions, he emphasized that “workers are people with lives, they are people with rights, they are people with families, their lives have value and are not put at risk”. He even added that if today someone works outside in these conditions, his life will be in danger.

Responding to the issue of whether the Labor Inspectorate is understaffed, he argued that it is not the case, saying that thousands of inspections are carried out, which this year are expected to reach 70,000. “The idea that the state can always stand by anyone who has a business is not a real idea. The idea that the state covers them is false. All the complaints that have been made to the Labor Inspectorate come in the first year”, he noted saying that “the tragedy in Chalkida is not the norm”.

The Minister of Labor added that in general the measures to protect workers in the heat were observed, while in cases where a company does not observe the measures then fines of 2,000 euros are imposed.

Referring also to the workers in tourism businesses and beaches, he argued that you cannot stop all economic activity, but there are specific provisions for each job.