Memorial service, 56 years after Air Force accidentin which 2 herdsmen lost their lives on the mountain peaks of Pindos, was celebrated in the morning in the holy church of the Nativity of the Virgin in Elati in the mountainous Arta, patron of Metropolitan of Arta Kallinikos.

The memorial ceremony was attended by a delegation from the Air Support Unit of Aktion, local organizations and residents of all the nearby villages who lived through the tragedy, as children at the time.

It was a difficult winter morning on Friday, February 1968. It was foggy in the corfobunia of southern Pindos. Two successive indeterminate loud bangs that reached the villages from the mountain disturbed the inhabitants.

Two squadron leaders, in the line of duty, met their fate. It was the Venetian Angel aged 32, from Kalamata and o George Kouthouridis aged 29, from Kilkis.

In the morning, Mr Panagiotis Venetsanos, cousin and only living relative of the unfortunate captain, could not hold back his tears. It may have been 56 years since the Air Force tragedy, but the memories remain vivid for the families and people of the area, who are still haunted by the crash.

With emotion, Panagiotis Venetsanos conveys to APE-MPE, the dramatic moments that his family experienced at that time. Two fraternal children, raised like brothers, he says. “The bad news arrived quickly, because my brother was waiting for him in Larissa, who was serving as a messenger so they could go to Athens together. The next day his parents found out. The family was plunged into mourning. Hard times. There was no accurate information. We learned that his plane crashed, somewhere in Pindos. We got no answers, neither about the spot, nor about the circumstances, or about how the tragedy happened. The years passed. The APE-MPE tribute to the tragedy, in February 2023, gave us the point of the crash. It was a relief, even after 56 years. Today “I meet my cousin here”.

In the main hall of the holy temple after the memorial service, the pieces from the wreckage of the 2 fighter planes sent shivers of emotion.

“Pieces of wreckage are heirlooms to me.” With these words, the president of the Arta Pigiotian Brotherhood, Christos Kaperonispresented to those present, what he had been collecting on the mountain since he was a child Redneckat the scene of the tragedy.

The plane of squadron leader George Kouthouridis, fell over Elati at 1550 meters, on the western slope of Kokkinolakos.

The President of the Community, Laios Kyriakos, a child then, remembers the days of tragedy. Snow and low clouds. After the collision, the slope was burning on top of the snow. There are still remains of the engines on the mountain, as he says, which we consider objects of sentimental value. In fact, the community’s intentions are to erect a monument at the crash site, where there are still parts of the engines of the two planes and are “living witnesses” of the tragedy.