Safety reviewed after accident
Defense Minister Spilios Spiliotopoulos on Sunday promised to boost safety procedures at military installations following Thursday’s horrific accident at a Thracian border outpost in which five conscripts were electrocuted while putting up a flagpole. All five soldiers, who died when the tall metal pole got caught in an overhead power line, were buried on Friday. «What happened here is both tragic and unacceptable,» Spiliotopoulos said during a visit to the army outpost where the accident took place, near the village of Kornofolia close to Soufli, a bare 500 meters from the Evros River border. «We are determined to do whatever is necessary to ensure that this kind of accident never happens again in the armed forces, where the flower of Greek society is serving.» Two soldiers who escaped death by letting the flagpole go when they saw it was going to get caught in the power line got Easter home leave after being hospitalized for shock. A judicial investigation by military officials is under way into the accident.
