In Brief
NEA HALKIDONA SHOOTOUT
Suspected car thief fires at police officers in western Athens suburb Police exchanged fire yesterday with a man suspected of stealing a car in Nea Halkidona, western Athens. Nobody was injured in the incident but the doors and tires of a police patrol car were damaged. Officers said they approached the man, thought to be around 25 years old, after identifying the car, which had been reported as stolen. The suspect, however, opened fire on the officers who shot back. The man then ran toward a wood and escaped. ANNIVERSARY OF DEMOCRACY PM marks fall of junta 32 years ago Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis said yesterday that the «collective interest» of Greeks should be the only factor driving the country’s progress, in a statement released to mark the 32nd anniversary of Greece’s return to democracy after the military dictatorship. Karamanlis said that all Greeks had played a role in the country’s advance since July 1974. «We all managed to bring Greece out of isolation and to make it a European country… a country that is an example for all our neighbors which are today following the path that we first opened,» the prime minister said. Ferry accident A ferry crashed into the pier at the port on the Cycladic island of Andros on Saturday, forcing some 700 passengers to transfer to a different ship to continue their journey. The Penelope was making its last stop on its way back to Rafina after docking at Myconos and Tinos when the accident occurred. Nobody was injured in the incident. The passengers were taken off the ship as the damage was inspected. They were forced to continue their journey with the Super Ferry II after experts said that the Penelope could not sail from the port. Deadly fall A 40-year-old woman died early yesterday after apparently falling from a bridge near the Rethymon-Hania national road in Crete. The unnamed woman had been traveling in a car with three friends when she asked the driver to pull over so she could relieve herself. However, she wandered down an unlit side road and when she did not return, her friends began searching for her. They found her body at the foot of a 6-meter-high bridge. She was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital. Cars destroyed There was an explosion at a car showroom in Haidari, western Athens, at around 8 p.m. yesterday, police said. Nobody was injured in the incident but a number of cars were damaged. It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion, officers said. Body found The decomposing body of a 28-year-old man was found on Mount Pendeli, near the community of Aghios Dimitrios, police said yesterday. The man’s details were not known but officers said that he was not Greek. Fire tamed The fire service said last night that it had under control a brush fire which had broken out in Petroupolis, western Athens. The blaze started in a wooded area near the Petras open-air theater. Some 30 firefighters were needed to get the fire under control.
