In Brief
MISGUIDED
Search for treasure leads to diggers paying compensation instead Two treasure hunters who got permission from State authorities to dig for treasure near the northwestern town of Ioannina will have to pay for extensive damage they caused to the town’s underground water network, the Athens News Agency reported yesterday. Water board staff were yesterday repairing the damage. The two locals claimed to have been tipped off about the whereabouts of a case of gold coins buried by Ali Pasha, an Albanian who governed the region for the Ottoman Empire in the 19th Century. The result was that the water supply to some parts of the town was cut off. COMA Police to use fingerprints to identify accident victim Thessaloniki police said yesterday they hoped to identify a road accident victim who has been in the intensive care unit of the city’s AHEPA Hospital for seven days, by using the young man’s fingerprints. The young man has had no visits since he was hit by a car driven by 66-year-old Kyriakos Assihidis on December 23, doctors said. The man has been in a coma since his arrival at the hospital, AHEPA’s Director Giorgos Kaltsidis said yesterday. ATHENS METRO Last trains at 11 p.m. tonight There will be no trains running on the Metro network after 11 p.m. tonight as workers finish an hour earlier to join in New Year’s Eve celebrations. The last trains for Ethiniki Amyna, Dafni and Sepolia will leave Syntagma at 11 p.m., Attiko Metro said yesterday. Consulate raid Greek and Belgian authorities are investigating the theft earlier this month of 1,800 passports, visa stamps and files from the Greek consulate in Brussels, the Eleftheros Typos daily reported yesterday. Local police believe the burglary on the night of December 14 was the work of an organized human trafficking gang. Foreign Ministry spokesman Panos Beglitis confirmed the burglary. Roadworks Drivers using Academias Street in central Athens will have to use diversions from Saturday when work starts on an underground car park on Kaningos Square. The works – which will affect the section between Halkokondyli and George streets – are to continue until October. Warship docks A US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier anchored at NATO’s base in Souda Bay, Crete yesterday for a brief stop on its way to the Persian Gulf ahead of a possible war against Iraq. The USS Harry S Truman, with 8,000 sailors aboard, is due to leave Crete on January 3. Bulgarian extradition A 26-year-old Bulgarian man, wanted for allegedly killing a Spanish man earlier this year, is to be extradited to Spain within the next few days, following his arrest at the Greek-Bulgarian border, police said yesterday. Vassil Petrov Gueoryuiev is wanted for the multiple stabbing of Jordi Lioret Basiero in Villareal in June. He had been trying to enter Greece. Hotel robbery Two armed robbers made off with around 25,000 euros early yesterday morning following an armed raid on the Stanley Hotel in Karaiskaki Square in central Athens. Road accident A 28-year-old Albanian was declared dead on arrival at a Nikaia hospital in Piraeus yesterday after being hit by two vehicles near the junction of Kifissos and Athinon avenues. Gori Castriot was first hit by a car – which did not stop – before being struck by a bus coming from the opposite direction. Castriot had been trying to cross the road, police said. Ferries Ferries yesterday morning resumed scheduled routes after the easing of strong winds in the Aegean, the Merchant Marine Ministry said.
