In Brief
Swine flu
Man, 28, critical in intensive care after contracting virus A 28-year-old man was admitted to the intensive-care unit of the Navy Hospital in Athens yesterday suffering from breathing problems caused by swine flu. The unnamed man had been on vacation on an unspecified Aegean island when he began to feel unwell. Doctors said that he was in a critical condition. Meanwhile, a 29-year-old German woman who is a member of the crew of the Aida Vita cruise ship was in stable condition at the Metropolitan Hospital in Athens after also contracting the disease. Almost 1,500 people in Greece have contracted the virus. Level crossing Train hits, kills bulldozer driver A 33-year-old man was killed yesterday after the bulldozer he was driving was hit by a train at a level crossing at Halki, near Larissa in central Greece. The unnamed man had been attempting to traverse the unmanned level crossing at the time of the accident. Several people are killed every year at the country’s 1,829 level crossings, 1,021 of which are unguarded. City sweep More than 200 police officers took part in an operation in central Athens that led to 53 people being arrested following 500 random checks during which small quantities of drugs and some weapons were found. Officers said that of those arrested, 11 were remanded in custody. Have-a-go hero A passerby chased and apprehended a mugger in Thessaloniki yesterday just moments after he ripped a gold cross and chain from the neck of an elderly woman, police said. The incident occurred in the Ano Poli neighborhood of the northern city. The 76-year-old woman was not injured in the attack. The alleged assailant, a 23-year-old Georgian national, was taken into custody after the passerby, who was not identified, apprehended him and called the police. Pensioner murdered A 69-year-old woman was found dead in her apartment in the Nea Ionia area of Volos, central Greece, late on Wednesday night. Police said that they did not find any signs that an intruder had forced his way into the property and that they were treating the incident as murder. They did not reveal how the woman, who was not named, had been killed. Drug arrests Four suspected drug dealers have been arrested after being caught red-handed, police in Thessaloniki said yesterday. The men were arrested in the Evosmos area of the city as one pair was about to buy just over a kilo of heroin from the other. The suspects were not identified. Meanwhile, the city’s law enforcement authorities as well as those from the northeastern city of Xanthi have discovered two marijuana plantations. One plantation had 105 plants, the other 10. One man has been arrested. Forged notes Eight Italians were arrested at the port of Patra yesterday after allegedly using fake euro banknotes on board a ferry, Agence France-Presse reported. The eight from Naples and Palermo, aged between 16 and 25, were arrested upon their arrival from Brindisi. They had earlier tried to exchange 50-euro banknotes for gambling chips at the ferry casino, all of which were found to be fake.
