In Brief
AEGINA BLACKOUTS
Generators to restore power after three days of outages The island of Aegina is expected to experience a smoother supply of power after three days of intermittent blackouts due to damaged underwater cables, the Public Power Corporation (PPC) said yesterday. PPC announced that it would be installing power generators on the island, which is just a few kilometers off the Attica coast in the Saronic Gulf and is a popular tourist and weekend destination, and that the power supply should be restored today. Authorities also said that repairs will be carried out on the damaged cables along with an investigation into the cause of the incident. ARSON CHARGES Arrest made over Messinia fire A 66-year-old man was identified by witnesses as being responsible for starting a fire on Saturday in a garbage dump in Messinia, in the southwest Peloponnese, which, stoked by strong winds, reached a nearby village. Police say the 66-year-old local man was burning dead underbrush in a dump outside the regional capital of Kalamata when the fire flared out of control. He will be appearing before a prosecutor tomorrow. Railway opens The Kifissia-Piraeus electric railway (ISAP) between the Monastiraki and Neo Faliro stations was back in operation yesterday following a week of renovation work on the track that forced the closure of this section of the line. The Attiki-Monastiraki stretch will remain closed until the end of the year, while interruptions are still being experienced on the Piraeus-bound trains, which will not be stopping at the Perissos and Pefkakia stations. Hooligans Deputy Culture Minister Giorgos Nikitiadis said yesterday that it was only «a matter of days» before the supporters of AEK soccer club who attacked the team’s manager, Dusan Bajevic, on Saturday would be arrested. Bajevic was assaulted by a small group of fans at the end of his team’s friendly match against Kallithea. Nikitiadis said that the government would prevent teams whose fans are involved in violence from receiving state sponsorship. The state-run OPAP gambling company provides Greece’s soccer teams with a combined total of 40 million euros in sponsorship each year. Ioannina drowning After a two-hour underwater search, EMAK rescue squad divers recovered the body of a 33-year-old man from Ioannina Lake, northern Greece, on Sunday, who was identified as being a local and is believed to have been under mental strain. Witnesses say they saw him jump into the lake in the middle of the day in front of a crowd of people, who promptly called emergency services. Farmer killed A 34-year-old farmer from Sparta, in the Peloponnese, was killed yesterday when the tractor with which he was plowing his fields tipped over and crushed him, causing lethal injuries. Drug bust Police in Pieria, northern Greece, arrested three men yesterday on drug-trafficking charges of after discovering a stash of half a kilo of heroin in a public lamppost. The three men – two Albanians aged 30 and 35 and a Greek, aged 49 – were being questioned by investigators.
