“Around 11 at night, on the beach in Mati, EMAK showed me 16 bags of dead people. I immediately informed the chief” said the then aerial coordinator in his apology for the tragedy in Mati Christos Lambris, in a comparison of what had been said in the interview given to ESKE on the night of the disastrous fire, during which no allusion had been made to civilians who had lost their lives.

The recently demobilized officer told the judges that on that day, he had flown in a Fire Brigade helicopter (FLOGA 1) in order to convey to the leadership the image of the front in Kineta and later that in Dau Pentelis. After the landing of his helicopter in Elefsina, around 18.00, he was ordered to go by road to the front in Penteli.

Apologizing, Mr. Lambris recounted his movements in the burning area until he went down to the beach, where he came face to face with the corpses which had been collected by EMAK at the Naval Club in Mati, near the sea. He said he immediately informed the then fire chief, Sotiris Terzoudis, for these sixteen dead .

It should be noted that apologizing, Mr. Terzoudis had said, to a related question from the Prosecutor, that during the controversial interview at ESKE before midnight, “we knew about some dead people”.

As the retired soldier said, he flew in a helicopter over the fire in Kineta and then on the order of the then deputy leader and now his co-accused, Vassilis Matthaiopoulos, at around 17.00, he also gave an image of the fire in Sousaki, Corinth, where the refineries are located. Then, the FLOGA 1 crew was ordered to fly to the fire in Penteli.

Referring to the fire at the refineries, about which much has been said in the trial (as the necessity of the command to divert a helicopter, which had started for a drop on the front at Dau to make a drop on Corinth, has been questioned), Mr. Lambris said:

“Because much has been heard, I will tell you what I saw. There was a front going to the refineries.” The forehead “was in uncontrollable flame and had to be dealt with immediately as it appeared to have entered the paddock. I was very concerned and so I said we should alert the ground people of the danger as well.” According to the accused “there had been an explosion in a nearby industrial area and a large flame was approaching the premises”.

For the aerial picture of the Dau fire, the then air coordinator described how at around 17:20 the front was already a large, “helix that was developing rapidly and was heading towards New Vuzha. I informed the deputy chief and then informed that at 17:30 we should let’s go for fuel”.

Regarding what he saw when he arrived by car around 19.00 at the fire in Eastern Attica, the defendant told the court: “There was a lot of car traffic on Marathon Avenue. The image of the fire made me freeze. He had moved too quickly. The flames were huge over 20 meters. Houses had burned. I immediately called, at 18:58, the deputy commander Vassilis Matthaiopoulos and told him that the situation is very difficult. “People have burned here,” I told him. He answered me very anxiously, that he would send them all there. I found a traffic warden at an intersection of Marathonos and told him to turn the cars around, to turn them towards Athens. There were too many cars and trucks. I was anxious, because if the air changed, all these people would burn.”

Later, at the Naval Club in Mati, EMAK showed him “the sixteen bags”.

Responding to the charge that imputes to him how he left the position of air coordinator during the critical times, Mr. Lambris emphasized: “I did not abandon my duties. I was neither at the office, nor at home. Within 40 minutes I went from Elefsina where we landed, in the fire for which I am now accused. I communicated the image I had, to the right people, at the right times.”

Concluding, the defendant said that “I think this particular phenomenon has overtaken usboth as persons, and as an infrastructure”.

In his apology, the captain of FLOGA 1, Christos Drosopoulos, he answered the accusation that at 17.30 he left the area of ​​the fire in Eastern Attica and went to land, while he could fly a little more time, declaring his innocence. “I’m in this position because I overextended myself,” he said, adding:

“I am accused of leaving at 17:30 while I had fuel and could have stayed until 17:50. We didn’t know which airports could serve us due to weather conditions. The helicopter should have fuel so that if you try to land twice and fail, you have fuel to continue. Some in your court liken the helicopter to a car. What are these; ‘Come on baby, sit aside and we’ll get you some fuel’ you think it is? What kind of theories are these, and from people who have no knowledge of helicopters at all? I have heard the thousand within your court for two years. I was flying in a 10 to 12 Beaufort gale…”

The pilot, at one point, very strongly charged and crying, said that he was sorry that some people thought it was his fault, while pointing to the place where the residents of Mati were sitting, he continued: “I can look these people in the eyes and tell them that if I had fuel I would stay”.

As the pilot of the helicopter explained, essentially responding to the positions of the forensic expert, “the claim that I had 20 minutes of fuel is incorrect. No evidence came to my attention, on the contrary, I went beyond what was dug up. I should have been grounded and not checked (due to of the weather conditions). Like those who stayed grounded and didn’t even give a statement. Against the high sense of responsibility that I showed, the State, in order to honor me, sent me as an accused”.

In his own apology, the then commander of Y.E.M.P.S. (aerial means service of the fire brigade) Georgios Portozoudis, categorically denied that on that fateful afternoon he had left his post “and was with a woman for coffee” as reported in publications after the tragedy.

Raising his voice, the officer spoke of “cannibalism” to his face“with directed reports”, claiming that the woman in question was a volunteer leader and that she had a scheduled appointment with him at his office in Eleftherios Venizelos.

The officer stated unequivocally that that day “started with 6-7 Beaufort and ended up with 10-11. And to get an order, there was no way I could take off.”

On the day of the tragedy, the defendant emphasized that “nothing foretold that we would have such a disaster. The first helicopter for Kinetta left early, then two more were requested.”

As the day progressed, he said, he began to understand that the helicopter operators would be completing eight hours, and in order not to break the schedule as it was dangerous, he eventually found another operator “for the two of us to crew” in order to have a crew. in readiness. As he said, after the meeting with the volunteer, “when the first helicopter came back, the captain said to him, ‘commander, two or three people must have been burned. I tell him it’s not possible! Imagine the next day we learned the death toll. All these people were our fathers, our mothers, our children.”

Then the defendant said: “I was thinking about all the things I have done for so many years and if I deserved to be accused. I was not at the birth of my child, I was flying. For an order that I never received, and wherever they gave it to me, I would say ” no”, I found myself accused. And Mr. Drosopoulos who went with a nut shell, I should punish him. He didn’t know if he could land in Eleusis or Megara, and took the worst case scenario of Tanagra. I feel such bitterness, disappointment, especially with cannibalism in my face…”

The last to apologize today was the then Commander of the 1st EMAK and later Chief of the Fire Brigade, Stefanos Kolokouris, who said that although he had leave that day, he accepted when the then deputy leader asked him to return from Argolis where he was. On the way, as he said, he saw the fire in Kineta. “At that moment, Matthaiopoulos took me and I told him to send air and I will immediately enter the field to take action”.

Mr. Kolokouris said in his apology that while he was at the Kineta fire, he received phone calls from Mr. Matthaiopoulos and the then Chief, who put him on the phone with the minister to get information. “Matthaiopoulos called me after dusk, and he told me to take ten or twelve cars and a group of hikers and head to the Nea Makri fire,” said Mr. Kolokouris.

Mr. Kolokouris, concluding his statement, blamed the police for not providing escape routes. “Who allowed this mess over there? Shouldn’t there have been an escape route?” he said.