“The state turned against the residents of Matio: that we are to blame and that we are arbitrary. But there are ways. We didn’t get burned because we didn’t have passageways, but because there was no evacuation, we weren’t notified. And those of us who were saved were by luck, because the fire created eddies and some houses and trees were spared…” he testified before the Three-member Court of Appeal in the trial for the tragedy in the eye, the woman on whose plot 26 people were burned.

After a break of about a month, it started again today the appellate trial of the 21 defendants for the devastating fire of July 23, 2018 that left behind 104 dead.

Ten witnesses took the witness stand during today’s session. People who lost their own and others who were saved both from fire and from fighting with the sea for hours.

Among the witnesses, the woman whose family owns the “Frangou estate” in which the most horrific story of the tragedy unfolded, also testified today. Anastasia Fragou referred to what she heard afterwards from officials of the then government about “arbitrary construction” and “dead ends” in Mati and gave her own answer, stressing that people ended up on her plot because the main road leading to beaches. “The first wave, which we welcomed them, had been driven to the strait because the passage to Dimokratis that ends at normal beaches was burning. About 40 people were saved. Some may not have known that there was a cliff below us. The entire beach front in Kokkino Limanaki is on a cliff, it has rocks. They didn’t have time to get down. The fire closed in on them … The only humane thing we could do was to open the door and all of us go to the cliff for safety. Because there is no beach as the media said, but a cliff 18 meters high, which we literally flew down,” said Mrs. Fragou, stressing that no one warned them about the danger of the fire coming down so they could leave in time.

The witness Sumela Hatjilazaridou managed to save herself from the fire because she reached the sea where she swam for seven hours until she was rescued. “We were being hit by some sticks which after some time I found out were dead bodies. A girl had a panic attack and I picked her up to help her cope. We were shouting, screaming and nothing. Late at night a fishing boat threw us a rope to climb up. A lady was stopped. When I got up my voice stopped I couldn’t speak, which is slowly coming back now after 6 years. I came to an understanding and went to Rafina where I met my family. The picture was… there was not a single ambulance, cars, boats, unaccompanied children coming and going… no provision, no organization… No one notified or came to save us. Not one person came, a fire brigade, an aerial vehicle… Here should be the Coast Guard, the Police, the EMS… not only the firefighters”.

Anastasios Athanasopoulos lost his mother who tried with a neighbor to escape from the fire that surrounded her apartment. “There is no issue of fringes or arbitrariness. They could have escaped in three minutes, but here it was impossible to leave as they did. The mice were caught in the lens and the fire passed through Marathon. All this about extreme phenomena and environmental crisis, applies from Marathon onwards, according to us – the Matiotes – from Marathon onwards the crime of entrapment became” said the witness. Referring to his mother, he emphasized: “They were surprised because there was no information, not even bells. They went to leave in the car but did not leave them. They wasted precious time, fighting like amusement park skirmishers…”

Prosecutor: If she stayed at home, do you think she would have survived?

Witness: Lotto..

Prosecutor: So her reaction to leave wasn’t wrong… it wasn’t panic… could she be playing Lotto?

Witness: The apartment building has 19 apartments. Some played the Lotto and won. On the ground floor of the apartment building, 7 ground floor apartments, in one 17 people gathered and fortified themselves with towels and waited. My mother and the neighbor when the apartment next door caught fire.. you can’t live from the smoke. Her reaction was logical. In retrospect prophet I come and say it was Lotto. Common sense says I’m leaving to save myself.

The witness Grigoris Politis also lost his mother, who testified that his father was saved because he managed to reach the sea. “I am impressed that my father was able to make this entire journey, while specially equipped people could not. My mother couldn’t leave the house. When we got home, we checked. The first floor was still burning. We asked for the help of the fire brigade but they told us that it is not their job to rescue a person and to call the EMS. After 20 minutes they came but they told us that the Fire Department should come to put out the fire. We called the Fire Department again and of course time was wasted. Eventually my mother found herself in a little house outside the main house. There was nothing left but a few bones. It was completely charred. There was no organization… When the fire threatened there was no warning and when it reached the urban fabric the forces could have helped to save the people and we would not have had so many victims.”