The hell his family experienced when in the summer of 2018 Mati was engulfed in flames and the tragic circumstances in which he lost his 85-year-old mother, Mr. Pan. Konstantinakis, lawyer. According to the witness, his elderly mother was burned while tripping over the roots of a pine tree and the rest of the family members were forced to leave her behind in order to save their lives.
The witness who when the fire broke out was in Glyfada in his office, he said, beginning his testimony: "I turned on the TV and saw Marathonos burning, 50 metres from my parents' house. I lost the earth beneath my feet. I contacted my brother-in-law around 7:10 and he told me that he and my sister were on a small beach and were fine. But through the phone I could hear screams and explosions. I could hear my sister and could tell she was in bad shape. I asked about the kids and she said they were headed in another direction. I asked about my mother. She replied "unfortunately she didn't make it."
Continuing his shocking testimony, the witness said: "They started to leave the house when the power went out around 6.20pm. They got in the car to leave because of my mother, who was 85 years old. They started to go left towards Nea Makri. They saw that the cars were channeling them into the Eye. Seeing the cars were jammed my sister took a right. Her children went left. At that moment the family was separated. My brother-in-law went with my sister and my mother. At some point they left the car in a gate and started from there to go to the beach to save themselves.... They walked about 150 meters through the smoke. At one point there was a large pine tree and my mother tripped over one of the roots. My sister tried to pick her up. But the fire hit her. It burned her at that moment, she was unconscious. They were trying to hold her, they finally had to run for their lives. They walked but 40 meters. They went down to a beach and stayed there until 12:30 at night, with no one ever bothering with them. They could not even communicate with their children. Around 12:30 some people showed up who were probably firefighters. They heard the voices and got in the process of going down to the beach. They started bringing them up thinking there was no more fire. Crippled, beaten, burned, all of them. With the ladder. But there was some resuscitation and they brought them down again, carrying them down. This beach is rocky it's not easy to say I swim there in the dark. After some time they brought them up. Private fishing boats were coming in and they transferred them to Coast Guard boats. They didn't even have a clue how to catch a man who is burnt[/B] Like sacks they threw them up."
Subsequently, the witness told the court that his mother was dead around 7:00 that fateful evening. "I 7:10 I found out we had dead, it was my mother and many others as I was informed. From 6:30 to 7:30 must have had at least ten dead... Then DNA test to see where the body is.... I hope no one ever experiences what we experienced. To be in the morgue and smell the smell of rot and burning, only to hear afterwards that everything was done perfectly, that was the amazing thing. I hope no one ever experiences that. To feel helpless and not knowing whether in the next five metres you will burn or not."
"They left us naked"
During his testimony, the witness referred to what he learned afterwards about the way the officials handled the devastating fire. "We all tried to find out what happened after the climactic evening of shadow theatre that some people played on our backs. We were being played and laughed at at our expense. We went into the process of finding out for ourselves. I talked to some old and experienced firefighters. They gave me some information which I later found in the briefs. That day there was a fire in Kinetta, they all went there and left the rest of Attica naked," the witness said and continued: "There being smoke in Daou Penteli and no means of stopping the fire, a Sinuk with such winds that they knew them from the previous one. No means was raised to assess the danger, I know very well what I am saying. I have been a child of five years in Mati. We always knew from the planes that there was a fire in the area and we always knew that the fire didn't pass Marathonos because the aircraft made sure it didn't. A damn Chinook couldn't get up and cut the fire? Steer five city water trucks? People were left unprotected with no information.
Misinformed by people who had a responsibility to help them to avoid disaster. The amazing thing is that the mayor of Rafina spoke to a TV station and said that the fire was heading north and that there was no danger to Mati. There is no question of evacuation, he said. At 5:15 he said that the fire went towards Dionysos while it was going towards Callisthenupolis. Tell me you guys, you hear the mayor saying this, you don't hear fire engines, sirens and speculate that the smoke is from Kinetta, would you get up and leave? ...But otherwise everything else worked out fine. That and "I'll give you two grand but what can you do with it", I'll never forget. The prime minister of the country told us. I have been terribly patient so that I could be in front of you......"
Source: protothema.gr
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