Four killed in coach collision
Four people were killed and one seriously injured on Saturday evening after the driver of an empty intercity coach lost control of the vehicle in the Athenian suburb of Menidi, colliding with three oncoming cars. Colleagues of Ioannis Karamanis, 45, in Ioannina, northwestern Greece, said he was an experienced driver and had probably suffered a heart attack at the wheel. A coroner is today to confirm the cause of his death. Spiridon Kyriakos, 34, Leonidas Kelesis 39, and Theodoros Velitselos, 29, were also killed. Karamanis, who had arrived in Athens from Ioannina on Saturday afternoon, spent a couple of hours at the Kifissou bus depot before taking the coach to visit relatives in Menidi ahead of a scheduled return trip to Ioannina. The incident occurred on Karamanli Avenue at around 6 p.m. when Karamanis lost control of the coach, veering into seven parked cars and three oncoming vehicles. Of the seven people injured in the crashes, one was in critical condition yesterday. The coach is being examined for possible mechanical faults.
