The people in charge of the project to convert a heating boiler into a geothermal heat pump at a primary school in Serres were arrested[/B] this afternoon[/B] as an 11-year-old boy died from an explosion in the boiler room.
More specifically, according to information reported by thestival, the 52-year-old contractor of the project and the 43-year-old electrician who was supervising the work were arrested.
Earlier, the president of the Central Union of Municipalities of Greece (KEDE), Dimitris Papastergiou, said in a statement that the boiler explosion was not due to poor maintenance of the existing heating system.
The full statement of Mr Papastergiou
"On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Central Union of Municipalities of Greece, I express our deep sorrow for the tragic death of the young student at a primary school in Serres, as well as our sincere condolences to his family. As a parent, I feel that it is unthinkable to greet your child in the morning as he/she sets off for school and never see him/her again because of an accident that should never have happened.
At this school we know that energy upgrade works have recently been carried out, works that, as stipulated in the contract, had to take place outside the school's opening hours. From the data so far it is clear that the tragic event of the boiler explosion is in no way due to poor maintenance of the existing heating system.
KEDE stands by our colleague Mayor of Serres Alexandros Chrysafis, knowing the work and effort he makes to upgrade the schools of his city, for the benefit of students and their families. Both we and the Mayor wish that the investigation into the causes of the accident proceeds immediately and that those who caused the accident are held responsible by the justice system.
In any case, we should point out that the KEDE and the Municipalities do everything in our power every day to upgrade our school infrastructure at all levels, in order to ensure the best possible conditions of education for our children. The operation of modern and safe schools is our priority."
Prosecutor's investigation into the explosion
The prosecutor of Serres asks to investigate, immediately, the responsibilities for the explosion in the boiler room at the 9th Primary School that resulted in the death of the 11-year-old student and the injury of two other students.
In a statement to APE MPE, the school director Nikolaos Tsiotsios, said that a geothermal system for heating the building was recently installed at the school unit, through NSRF, in order to replace the oil boiler. He said he disagreed with this project, as it was not a proposal of the school community.
The boiler was until recently an oil boiler", Mr. Tsiotsios stressed, speaking to APE MPE. I disagreed many times about this project which was done under the responsibility of the municipality. We were not given a bill by anyone. It was a geothermal project that was done through NSDP as far as I know."[/I]
In a tragic incident, he said that the engineer in charge of the project had informed that due to a failure in the new heating system, the school would have to be heated as before, i.e. with oil.
While the contractor was supposed to come on Saturday - and he was supposed to come on Saturday - because I explained to them a thousand times that I do not allow them to do work during school hours, but I found no support for this from either the Primary Education Department or the municipality. They generally came whenever they wanted and left whenever they wanted. They finally came today to make the arrangement and told us that from now on we will not turn on the oil boiler as the school will now run on geothermal.
The headmaster claims he was informed of the boiler explosion by a fellow teacher who was at the school at the time he had left the school and was at home.
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