The huge delays that led to the fire that engulfed Mati and claimed hundreds of lives were described in his testimony in court by fire officer Yiannis Kostas, one of the first to arrive at the scene of the disaster.

The witness, one of the main in this trial of the perpetrators of the deadly fire, referred to the dramatic hours he lived trying to avoid the tragedy. Mr. Kostas testified that the funds available to the Eye were minimal and in any case disproportionate to the needs, causing the fire, which he said could be controlled, to break out and consume everything.

“There were no antennas, Madam President,” the witness said, “only one antenna. He didn’t show up again. If three or four planes had arrived before half-past five, the fire would not have reached even Neo Wutz. The fire continued, but it was not uncontrollable,” the witness emphasized to the court, referring to the efforts he made to mobilize the state apparatus from the first minutes, before the fire assumed huge and destructive proportions.

The fireman described the frantic calls for help minute by minute, adding that only one antenna had been found at the crash site. “Center, we need immediate ground and air reinforcements. The fire is now in the area of ​​the houses and goes up the mountain,” is one of the recorded conversations he had with the fire department from 16.59 until the fire reached Mati.

Revelations

A fire officer’s testimony of flaws that led to hundreds of deaths.

“At that time, I had eight volunteer vehicles and one with a stationary fire extinguisher with a capacity of only five hundred liters,” the witness said, adding that these forces could not stop the fire. And Mr. Kostas added that “at 17.11 aviation arrived and fired a shot, and we were delighted, because the fire, as we say in our language, sat down. And we thought we were going to leave her. While other aircraft were arriving, which, unfortunately, were not there.

In his testimony, he also referred to the claim he received from the defendant in order to retreat and not testify to the truth, as well as his attempts to truthfully record everything in order to lay responsibility for the tragedy.

In particular, a sensation was caused by the revelations of a witness who, according to him, at the request to draw up a protocol on a fire, found unreliable data in the electronic list of vehicle locations used in the system, fixing the fire. time of submission, arrival and departure of vehicles.

When the witness discovered, as he pointed out in court, these errors, he competently advised that the prosecutor should also be informed. But when his superiors failed to do so, he pointed out, “it was a one-way street for me, and I reported it to prosecutor and expert Dimitrios Liotsios.” According to him, a criminal case has been initiated on this fact on false certification, the hearing of the case will take place on October 26, 2023.