The testimony of Maria Dionysiotis, the mother of Margarita Dionysiotis, the woman who lost her six-month-old baby and herself succumbed to severe burns on the fateful afternoon when the fire consumed the Eye.

Maria Dionysioti she didn’t stay long on the stand, but her testimony shocked everyone present. Even the judges were moved to tears when they heard her say that “I just exist now as a piece of meat” and that she will always live with the loss of her daughter and grandson who carry her like a “burn in my soul”.

Immediately after the testimony, the court interrupted the meeting for a few minutes so that those who heard the black-clad woman, mother-in-law of the Nea Makri Fire Department official Andreas Dimitriou, testified yesterday about “Margarita and our baby”.

As the witness said: “I didn’t burn, but my soul has burned. I will live with this burning until I close my eyes… We don’t live, we just exist. We, my husband and I, as well as Andreas, are three pieces of meat that simply exist.”

Describing what Mrs. Dionysiotis experienced, she said that she and her husband were looking for Margarita and the baby in a hopeless setting. “At some point we learned that Margarita and the baby are on the Silver Coast. At that time we were in the square of Rafina and a friend of ours went to the Port Authority to tell them to send a boat to collect Margarita. Then he went back and was told that they were aware but the boats could not approach because there were many rocks. Finally we were informed that Margarita went to Evangelism… We were waiting for information from the doctors. After some time, Andreas came, put me in a chair to sit, hugged me and told me that our baby has become an angel. From then on I don’t remember anything… When we got home in the morning we were faced with a scene reminiscent of a nuclear war. There were still flames and small fires in our house. And our house was like a movie set. Front intact and back burnt. After a few days and after the baby’s funeral, I went to Saint Ephraim to worship and on my way back I experienced the same thing… They put me on a sofa and Andreas told me that Margarita couldn’t stand being away from the baby. When Margarita entered the ambulance she asked the rescuers to dictate a letter that she thanks us and her husband and that she loves us. Margarita and so many people left as martyrs. If the Port Authority had sent boats in time, our baby would have made it. But no one did their job. They abandoned us, left us to our own devices. I did not burn, but my soul has burned. I will live with this burning until I close my eyes. Margarita after the loss of our son was our support. Our baby would live and go to school. We don’t live, we just exist…”

In his own testimony Margarita’s father, Charalambos Dionysiotistold the judges: “None of you are going to understand what I went through. We were defenseless. They let us burn. Neither the Fire Brigade, nor the Coast Guard nor the Police offered a helping hand. There was nothing, you do, and the real people responsible are not charged. If they had diverted them against Marathon we would have had fewer dead. There was no briefing, no evacuation plan… Are we sure the 104 died instantly? We weren’t. Did these people have to wait the next morning for the rescuers? To die in the ashes? Shouldn’t they have been helped immediately, where the burn victims were screaming on the balconies? They all abandoned us then and they still abandon us today. In order to dispose of the debris with a Municipality car, we had to find money to pay the fee.”

Emmanuel Tsaliagos, a business employee in the Civil Protection of the Municipality of Rafina-Pikermi who was on duty at the “Fortress” position at the disputed noon, in a municipal tank, was the first to see the smoke and alert the Municipality and the Fire Department. In his testimony today, he emphasized that approaching the point of the outbreak, he realized that the fire had momentum and that it would definitely need assistance from aerial means to be dealt with.

“We were on duty. At 16:40 we saw smoke spread, not in a column that rises in apnea, due to the wind, towards Dau Pentelis or Dioni. I informed them that they will need air and that the fire is big” said the witness who, in response to a question from the president, said that he saw around 17:15 to 17:30 an Erickson who made a throw and nothing else. At the same time, he estimated that in this particular case the Kananders would not be able to attempt as the wind was blowing at 125 kilometers. He also said that if more vehicles had been made available, the fire could have been “contained” while it was at Dhow and not “opened”.

The trial will continue on Tuesday