In Brief
FATAL SLIP
Three killed as car veers off road Three people were killed and another injured after the car they were traveling in swerved off the side of the road and fell into a creek in Veria in northern Greece yesterday morning. Authorities could not immediately say what had caused the accident. Maronites return Maronite Christians who fled northern Cyprus when the island was partitioned in 1974 will be allowed to return freely to their villages without being required to renounce their Cypriot nationality, a senior Turkish-Cypriot official said Saturday. Serdar Denktash said his government would issue a decree in the coming days authorizing the return. The Cypriot Maronites, who now number an estimated 6,000 people, were mainly clustered in four villages before Turkey invaded the island in 1974. The permission will apply only to the town of Kormatikis, just northwest of Nicosia, which has traditionally been the main Maronite population center. (AFP) Diver drowns A diver who was part of an operation filming underwater work on an Athens Water EYDAP pipeline close to Elefsina, near Athens, drowned Saturday. The diver’s personal details have not been released. Drug haul Police arrested a three-member drug gang in Attica yesterday after finding in their possession narcotics and weapons, including two sub-machine guns and a hand grenade. The drug haul included 576 grams of heroin, 7.5 grams of cocaine and Indian cannabis. The three men, aged 65, 55 and 30, will be taken to the prosecutor today. Climber missing Rescue teams were continuing their search late yesterday for a 45-year-old mountain climber who had been reported missing by his family. The rescue operation was taking place in the Valia region in northern Greece, in an area authorities said was hard to access. Boat fire Port authorities were called to help rescue seven crew members on a fishing boat in the Saronic Gulf on Saturday, after a fire from the boat’s engine spread to the rest of the vessel. The crew members were all unharmed. The boat was on course from the island of Aegina to Lavrion, southeast of Athens. Flag theft A 43-year-old man was arrested in Thessaloniki yesterday after he tried to steal two Church of Greece flags hung up at a church in the Voulgari area.
