“Even if an organized preventive evacuation of residents had been appointed, it would not have been carried out, since neither the region nor the municipalities were organized,” he said at the trial in the case tragedy in Mati retired Lieutenant General of the Fire Department Andrianos Gurbatsiswho began his testimony today.

Mr. Gurbatsis, an expert on arson crimes, who was appointed technical adviser to the families of the victims, appeared before the judges of the three-member Criminal Court to testify about the elements included in his technical report on the fire on July 23, 2018 year, which resulted in the death of a hundred people.

“We are talking about the second fire affected in the world in the 21st century. First in Greece. The leader did not coordinate his actions. It can be seen from the conversations that everyone went where they wanted, and at some point coordination was lost,” the lieutenant general said in his testimony, assessing the chain of factors that turned the fire into a catastrophe.

Answering the questions of District Attorney Panagiotis Maniatis, the witness, specifying that the recommendation of the fire brigade is not required for the evacuation of citizens, continued by saying that even if the decision is made on time, i.e. by 5:30 p.m., the decision could not be implemented, as the local government had not prepared it properly, as it should have.

Asked by the prosecutor about the fire that had broken out earlier in the day at a motor oil factory in Elefsina, Mr. Gurbatsis said that an antenna with a tap had been provided, and now the fire was “creeping” after assistance had been rendered. was requested from the business.

Prosecutor: With this operational data, do you say whether the transfer of the plane instead of East Attica to Motor Oil was justified?

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