In Brief
FIRE WARNING
Interior Ministry warns of threat to Crete, Samos, Icaria The prefecture of Lasithi on Crete, as well as the islands of Icaria and Samos, are at particularly high risk from forest fires today, an announcement by the Interior Ministry’s General Secretariat for Civil Defense said yesterday. Relatively minor fires have already burnt parts of Icaria this month, while yesterday firemen extinguished a blaze that broke out near Karlovasi on Samos on Thursday night. Other forest fires were put out yesterday in the prefectures of Laconia in the Peloponnese and Thesprotia in northwestern Greece. HALKIDIKI SHAKEN 4.2-Richter quake in northern peninsula, no injuries or damage A moderately strong earthquake that registered 4.2 on the Richter scale shook parts of Halkidiki in northern Greece yesterday morning, but caused no injuries while no damage to buildings was reported. The 6.55 a.m. quake had its epicenter in the sea 120 kilometers southeast of Thessaloniki, seismologists said. It was mostly felt in the peninsula of Sithonia. Meanwhile, Economy Minister Nikos Christodoulakis yesterday signed a decision releasing 42 million euros in aid to the island of Lefkada, which was battered by a 6.4-Richter earthquake last Thursday. Christodoulakis also approved 11 million euros in earthquake aid to parts of Evia hit by seismic activity on June 18. SCREWDRIVER MANIAC Man held for three stabbings Police in Thessaloniki yesterday arrested a 30-year-old local man on suspicion of having carried out at least three apparently random stabbing attacks with a screwdriver over the past few days on women he encountered in the street. The suspect, whose name was not made public, was arrested after being pursued from the scene of a stabbing on the corner of Papandreou and Kydonion streets in the northern city. His 20-year-old victim was lightly injured in the back and arm. Flight delayed An Olympic Airways passenger jet heading from Thessaloniki to Berlin with 72 passengers on board performed an emergency landing at the northern city’s Macedonia airport yesterday shortly after take-off due to engine trouble. The flight had already been delayed for two hours before takeoff as mechanics tried to repair a malfunctioning part. Body at sea The badly mauled body of a young man found in the sea off the island of Kimolos, in the Cyclades, on Thursday was identified yesterday as belonging to Piraeus University student Evangelos Vaitsopoulos, 24, according to a coast guard announcement. The body was found lacking an arm and had severe stomach and back injuries which, according to initial coast guard estimates, may have resulted from Vaitsopoulos being struck by a passing speedboat. Railway disruption Trains will not be stopping today between Omonia and Tavros on the Kifissia-Piraeus electric railway from early in the morning until 4 p.m., due to works at the Thiseion station, the railway company (ISAP) said yesterday. Commuters will be able to shuttle between the two stations on blue buses, using their ISAP tickets. Elefsina corpse The body of an unknown man that was washed up in the harbor of Elefsina, west of Athens, on Thursday bore a stab wound in the neck, coast guard officials said yesterday, confirming initial suspicions that the man had been murdered. The victim’s identity was still unknown yesterday, and authorities were planning to carry out DNA tests. The body was found in a plastic bin liner swaddled with tape and stuffed into a travel bag. It was in a state of advanced decomposition. Armed robbery Two gunmen robbed a post office in the Piraeus district of Terpsithea yesterday, and escaped on a motorbike. By late yesterday it was unclear how much money had been stolen.
