Another tragic moment fire in Mati described a woman who, along with her mother, found herself in the middle of the ocean to escape the fire, was forced to let go of the lifeless bodies of her brother and her friend in order to save herself.

Vasiliki Miha told how her 23-year-old brother Viktoras was lost, who could not stand it in the sea, where they ended up, fleeing from the flames that engulfed them. Sobbing, the witness said that she, her brother, their mother and her friend Emilia Androulidakis were taken by surprise by the fire and left the house in a car the same day.

“There was a state of panic out of nowhere and suddenly,” the woman said, noting that they were stuck inside the vehicle. To save themselves, they abandoned the car and headed for the sea, which was next to them, with the fire following them. “If we had delayed leaving for two or three minutes, the fire would have overtaken us, and we would have burned inside the car. There was no one to warn us… To ring the bell… If someone had warned someone, we would have left, and everything would have been completely different… There was no oxygen. Burning pine cones fell on us. In order not to burn out on the run, we entered the water…” he noted.

As Mrs. Micha testified, after a long stay in the water, their friend did not survive and died. “My mother felt it was right to keep her by her side because we thought someone would come to pick us up. She wanted to take her to her children, ”she said and added that after that her brother began to complain of leg cramps and say that he would not stand it. “As soon as he realized that Emilia was dead, he panicked. After two waves, Victor… left. He was turned upside down. My mom, I don’t know how she survived and dealt with it. He turned it around, saw his face, it was black. I couldn’t believe he was gone. He told me: “Victor is no longer alive.” I was waiting for someone to come. I kept it. He said to me: “If you continue to hold him, you will also leave, I will also leave.” In order not to be separated, we tied our clothes around our wrists. We were only with each other, and we looked at the sky, waiting for someone to throw us a life buoy, ”she said in court, where not the slightest sound was heard, and the witness testified, crying.

B. Mikha, devastated, continued to tell that at some point the waves brought with them the corpses of two women. “We were shivering from cold and fatigue. I turn around and say to my mother: “Are we going to die too?”. She didn’t answer me… Her face was black… I knew that if my mother left, I would leave too… I wouldn’t live to see it…” she testified, adding that at 11 a.m. they were rescued, when the boat tossed them two life jackets. “I was crying at the time. I didn’t know what to feel. I left my brother behind. It was like I was being cut in two…” he remarked, crying uncontrollably. “We are at the mercy of God.”

Speaking of the agonizing wait for her brother, the witness said: “His body was in the sea. What we experienced while waiting for a phone call to tell us where he is, I don’t know… Who deserves such torture? We prayed that his body would be found. The next Monday we were told that he had been found and an identification was made. We could not see him, say goodbye to him for the last time. We said goodbye to him in a closed coffin. On my brother’s first birthday, my mother had a panic attack because she couldn’t stand it.”

The witness, weeping from the anger she had experienced, noted: “Half an hour from the parliament, are we a European country? Where is the state? Aren’t we a little confused? We are ashamed of what is happening. Now every summer I fear for my life. I am afraid to live in this country, because I know that there will be no one to protect me… Where were the authorities? Where are they? If there was a war, I tell you all what would happen? Our state collapsed like a deck of cards. What happened is criminal. You’ve heard all the stories about people drowning, burning alive and screaming, all because no one was doing their job. If he had done his job, most people would have been saved.”

The mother of the witness and the mother of 23-year-old Viktoras, Athena Mutafi, is shocked by what she said in her testimony: “I saw Viktoras swimming face down. I turned him over on his back and talked to him, but he did not answer. He was all black. The worst nightmare that you parents can imagine, I saw him in front of me … Either I would go with him, or I would let Viktor save Vasya … I don’t know how I did it, don’t ask me. . The maternal instinct kicked in. I decided to take Vasya and leave. I have no words to describe these moments. There are no words in the Greek dictionary. Finally, we moved on. I left him and left. I wanted to scream… I wanted to dive into the sea to go and get him back. I did not believe it, but I told her: “We will have time.” I took off my underwear and we tied our wrists so we wouldn’t get lost.”

Devastated, with tears in her eyes, the woman continued to excite the audience. “The master pushed the corpse of a woman past us so that we would not be afraid. He did not know that I left two of my loved ones at sea and buried my soul there. I didn’t care at all that they were going to save me. When the fishing boat came, I had a sense of security for my child, but I did not have any feeling of joy… I told Victor’s father: “Our child is in the sea”… I felt it alone in the sea. … I held a funeral every day,” he said, calling for the punishment of those responsible for the shocking disaster. The woman asked the court not to “fall below the circumstances” as “persons responsible for the day of the fire.”

Anastasios Athanasopoulos testified in court about the disappearance of his mother, who burned down in the house where she lived, in an apartment building in Mati.

The witness described his attempts to find his mother in ruins, looking for her in hotels, in various places and in hospitals: “On the sixth and eighth floors of Evangelismos, I found almost the entire apartment building where my mother lived. I found a friend of hers who told me that “she tried to leave and we lost her somewhere.” I considered it my duty to return home and find her. That night, looking for her, I lost seven pounds of fluid, my shoes were burned, and I was in nothing but my socks… I came home again. The police told me that there were a lot of burnt people there… While searching the bags, I saw a ring on my hand. At that moment, I photographed the dead man lying in front of me.” The witness, after showing the photo to the judge, noted: “I called my wife and sent her the photo, which was sharp, and as soon as she saw the ring, she said that it was my grandfather’s and my father’s wedding rings, which she put together. , in a ring and gave it to my mother. They found her in an alley leading to the sea.”

Mr. Atanasopoulos mentioned that “in addition to the test that the state must conduct in order to understand who is to blame, each of us conducts a test within himself. Inside me, all these years, I’ve been doing a test. I dare to tell you that today, four years later, I thank God that my mother left like this, because her saved friends are suffering and will continue to suffer until they die, unable to come and tell you about what they survived. … There was state negligence, the state did its job badly, and for this I blame it … Responsibility does not end with negligence … My mother, if she could leave, would be saved. Who said who to drive all the cars in the mother? I have to write it all down in memory of my mother.”

The trial will continue on Thursday, January 19.

Source: RES