Sad anniversary today, as it is 24 years since his tragic loss Yannou Kranidiotis.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement in which it states: “Yiannos Kranidiotis was a tireless diplomat and a visionary politician.

As one of the devotees of the enlargement and deepening of the European Union, he had worked with insight for the accession of Cyprus to the European Union, which bears his stamp.

The pioneering thought of Yannos Kranidiotis remains, to this day, a compass for Greek diplomacy, as it left an indelible mark on Greek foreign policy”.

It is recalled that the tragic accident happened on September 14, 1999. The Prime Minister’s Falcon type aircraft was transporting Deputy Foreign Minister Giannos Kranidiotis and 12 other people to Romania. He had started his journey from Athens and was heading to Bucharest in order for the minister to participate in the Inter-Balkan Conference of Foreign Ministers.

Shortly before arriving in the Romanian capital the aircraft did a steep dive from 15,000 feet where it was flying and stabilized at 3,000 feet. Suddenly the plane loses control and began to fall into a large vacuum.

During uncontrolled downward spiralthose who were not strapped into their seats were hitting the walls of the plane and the seats.

7 people died in the accident: Giannos Kranidiotis, his 23-year-old son Nikolas, ERT journalists Dimitris Pantazopoulos and Nina Asimakopoulos, ERT cameraman Panagiotis Poulos, the minister’s personal security officer Nikos Asimakopoulos and aircraft engineer Michalis Papadopoulos.