In Brief
RETHYMNON COLLISION
Four people from bus crash remain in critical condition Four people who sustained serious injuries when a bus collided with a fuel truck in Crete on Monday were yesterday in critical condition, doctors said. The Technical Chamber of Greece (TEE) yesterday declared a «disaster zone» the section of road where the accident occurred, some 10 kilometers outside the northern port of Rethymnon, and appealed for its speedy reconstruction. The four people killed in Monday’s collision were yesterday identified as Stelios Stavroulakis, 23, Manolis Stratidakis, 33, Stefanos Hadzidakis, 44, and Kyriakos Lionakis, also 44. MAN DROWNS 23-year-old dies after boat capsizes off Alexandroupolis A 23-year-old man, Ergin Hasan Oglu, was found dead in the sea off Alexandroupolis, northeastern Greece, yesterday after going missing earlier in the day when the inflatable boat he was in overturned, authorities said. The man’s fiancee, aged 17, was rescued in the Apalo area. He was found about 100 meters from the point where he disappeared. NINE ARRESTED No one hurt in shootout Nine people, including two women, were arrested in Peristeri, western Athens, yesterday accused of jointly participating in multiple holdups in the broader Attica area, following a shootout in which nobody was injured, according to authorities. Police said they raided two homes in Peristeri as four of the suspects were believed to have held up two banks in Athens yesterday. Police added that they had found weapons and a large amount of cash in the suspects’ homes. Striking workers Construction workers employed at Pantechniki in Grevena, northern Greece, went on a 24-hour strike yesterday after the death of a 53-year-old colleague who fell 50 meters from a crane. The striking workers are calling for stricter safety conditions to avert similar accidents from occurring in the future. Workers from all other construction companies operating in the area participated in a two-hour work stoppage during the worker’s funeral yesterday. Minister’s condolences Foreign Affairs Minister Dora Bakoyannis expressed her condolences in a letter sent to her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov over the killing of four Russian diplomats in Iraq, the Foreign Ministry said yesterday. Russia confirmed on Monday that four diplomats who had been taken hostage were dead, a day after a gruesome Internet video purportedly showed two of the men being executed. Rubbish overload Residents in Thessaloniki produce six times more rubbish per person than their counterparts in other European citizens, according to data prepared by the local authorities. At an international conference on the environment, officials said that each person from Thessaloniki throws away an average of 3 kilograms of rubbish per day versus 500 grams from other European residents. Officials added that in recent years, the amount of trash generated by Europeans has increased and that no country has met environmental goals that had been previously set. Employees accused Three employees from the Thessaloniki town-planning office will stand trial for dereliction of duty, sources said yesterday. The employees have been accused of changing data in a file in 2001 that allowed construction activity to take place on tracts of land that did not belong to the developer. Two dead A Bulgarian national, aged 51, was killed in Serres, northern Greece, yesterday when a bus slammed into the truck he was driving, police said. The driver of the bus and a passenger, aged 43 and 51 respectively, suffered minor injuries, police added. Separately, a 22-year-old motorcyclist was also killed in Serres when he lost control of his bike and ran into a shed.
