In Brief
FATAL COLLISION
Two dead after family car hits fuel truck in Thrace Two members of a family were killed and three injured when the car they were in veered into an oncoming fuel truck on the Xanthi-Kavala national road, near the village of Paradeisos, Nestos. The driver of the car, Erdan Bekir, 20, and his father Ardan Bekir, 39, were killed, while his mother Ayse Bekir, 38, and brothers Ahmet and Suleyman, 16 and 12, were hospitalized with injuries. The 30-year-old truckdriver was arrested. The family had been on their way back to Germany from a village in Xanthi where they had spent their holidays. In a separate incident on the Igoumenitsa-Ioannina highway yesterday, two Turks were killed and another two people seriously injured after their car skidded and crashed into a truck. WORKPLACE ELECTROCUTION Labor inspectorate demands checks after worker, 22, dies at Cretan factory The National Labor Inspectorate yesterday issued an urgent circular to workplaces across the country to inspect their facilities a few hours after a 22-year-old worker was fatally electrocuted at a factory for animal feed in the Cretan prefecture of Iraklion. Haralambos Papadopoulos died while trying to replace an electrical motor on a 10-meter silo. The inspectorate blamed workplace supervisors for failing to enforce safety regulations and noted that yesterday’s was the fifth workplace electrocution this year. It asked that inspection results be returned within a month. CASTRO AT OLYMPICS? Too early for decision, minister says It is too early for a final decision on whether to invite Cuban leader Fidel Castro to come to Greece for next year’s Olympic Games, government spokesman Christos Protopappas said yesterday in response to Castro’s reported request to attend. The request would be considered «on the basis of the messages of the Olympic Games, when the time is right,» Protopappas said. In June, the European Union – then headed by Greece – limited high-level exchanges between Cuba and member states due to Cuba’s poor human rights record. Greek and Cuban sports ministers on Saturday signed a protocol on sports cooperation. Clophen violations Greece has failed to fulfill its responsibilities regarding the disposal of toxic polychlorinated biphenyls and triphenyls (PCBs and PCTs) – including clophen – according to an as-yet unpublished decision by the European Court, EU officials said in response to a question by Synaspismos Left Coalition MEP Michalis Papayiannakis. Papayiannakis said yesterday that the court found Greece had violated EU regulations by «failing to draw up lists of equipment containing PCBs.» In June, clophen-containing transformers were removed from the Finance Ministry building in Athens and two managers of a power station in Macedonia were charged in connection with a generator which leaked clophen during a fire. Storm warning Regional and local authorities went on the alert yesterday as the General Secretariat for Civil Defense issued a storm warning, forecasting strong winds, rain, hail and lightning for the Ionian Islands and mainland Greece, as well as the Cyclades and Crete. Ferry blackout A ferry bound for Samos with 417 people on board was crippled yesterday evening just a few miles from the port of Piraeus following a power failure. Weather conditions were calm when a coast guard vessel set out to tow the Express Olympia back to Piraeus, as engineers attempted to repair the ship’s generators. Vengeful farmer A 55-year-old farmer from Sindos, Thessaloniki, faces prosecution after shooting at a truckdriver last Sunday whom he blamed for the theft his animals, police in the northern city said yesterday. The farmer – who lightly injured the truckdriver in the cheek – has been charged with grievous bodily harm and illegal gun possession and use. Neither man’s name was made public. Taxi dealer A 41-year-old Athens taxi driver was arrested on Tuesday for selling small quantities of drugs at central Omonia and Vathis squares, police said yesterday. Officers caught up with the taxi driver, identified only as P.S., after a tip-off.
