For those of us watching from the safety of our homes the drama – the biggest in Sudanese history – that began to play out on Holy Saturday, 10 days of confinement in a war zone seems like a period of time that passes agonizingly slowly. .

OUR Christ Dedes he describes “K” as just the opposite: “There was so much tension that the time was very tight.” I don’t even remember what we did or how the hours passed. But they passed. Because you couldn’t sleep. And if we fell asleep, we would wake up from the explosions.”

Mr. Dedes is one of the first Greeks found on an Air Force C-27 transport aircraft that arrived at Elefsina Airport at about 10:30 today. There were 17 people on the plane (13 Greeks and 4 foreigners, spouses of Greeks) from Sudan.

Mr. Dedes explains to K that this was only the second time he was in Sudan for business reasons. “And I fell into the trap,” he says characteristically. He himself works as a diver and was in the capital Khartoum, along with a team consisting of four more Greeks and one Portuguese. A few days after their arrival, they will begin work on a project in Port Sudan. This, of course, never happened.

“On Saturday, while we were at the hotel, we suddenly heard gusts of wind. We went out to the balconies and heard them distinctly. I realized we screwed up,” Mr. Dedes describes. “The situation immediately became chaotic. Everything changed from moment to moment. Once shots were heard close to us, another quite far away, then right next to us. Stray bullets flew everywhere.”

“Tight” time inside the hotel

When asked how, from a practical point of view, 10 whole days passed, in a hotel in the midst of fierce hostilities, Mr. Dedes gives us the following picture: “Firstly, we quickly realized that we would not have any precautions, there were no no shelter, no spectator coordination, there was nothing. Everyone had to make it where they ended up.”

“We had at least the bare necessities. Food and water. We didn’t have electricity. There was a generator which we used very carefully. In other words, we charged our mobile phones for an hour a day so that we could at least communicate with our families.”

“You are afraid?” we ask at this moment Mr. Dede. “I tried to remain calm,” he replies, and continues: “I have this principle, as a person. I was not disappointed. I thought it wouldn’t help me. I thought as much as I could, practically and logically. When someone lost heart, he was revived by another member of the group – one helped the other.

Mr. Dedes also says he has plucked up the courage to spend time with his family. “I exchanged WhatsApp messages with my wife to let her know that I am fine and to let her know and the news of my two children. We Greeks love our family very much.”

According to him, it was not the situation at the time that worried him most, but whether it would get worse. “I was worried that eventually something would happen and we would lose our little fellowship, that our stigma would be lost. Fortunately, the Honorary Consul of Greece in Khartoum, Mr. Gerasimos Pagoulatos kept in touch with us and encouraged us. He told us how we would succeed.”

“Cinematic” release process

The first rescue attempt was made yesterday (4/23) through the French embassy and did not bear fruit for the Greeks who were supposed to participate in it.

“He came and gave us a very small car and we started crossing the war zone into the city. But this attempt failed and so we quickly returned to the hotel. In the end, we were saved by the connection that the Portuguese of our team had, who communicated with the Portuguese Embassy. Yesterday morning, early at 04:00, the embassy car was parked outside the hotel to pick us up and take us to the military base. We drove by car for two hours. The car was moving very slowly. We were stopped at least 30 times for inspection. In some cases it was the army, in others paramilitaries. In one of these checks, which I think was carried out by paramilitaries, we were afraid that we would not succeed. They seemed to be preparing for a robbery.”

From that moment on, the adventure began to come to an end, Mr. Dedes notes. “As soon as we arrived at the base, around 07.00 am, an Italian transport plane was already waiting for us. Inside were Italian commandos and the six of us. We arrived in Djibouti at 11.00. There we had a good rest. We were taken care of by the Greek Ambassador to Djibouti.”

Now Christos Dedes is safe in Greece. “It’s good for me to be at home, close to my family. I travel a lot and often the conditions in the countries where I am are not ideal. But it was the first time in my life – hopefully the last – that this happened to me. It was a great experience, no matter how you do it, no matter how hard it was.”