November 3, 1955
DEADLY EXPLOSION IN SERRES: Thessaloniki – A huge explosion shook the city of Serres at 11.30 a.m. yesterday. Stones and pieces of iron were catapulted a considerable distance from the place of the explosion, which happened at the gunsmith’s shop of Stylianos Stylas, in Skra Street, in the central market. The explosion was so strong that it literally pulverized six surrounding shops and flattened the entire block in which the gunsmith’s shop was located. The tragic result in terms of the number of victims so far is seven dead and 37 seriously injured, of whom five are in critical condition. A further 120 sustained light injuries. […] The head of Krinio Styla, the daughter of the gunsmith, was found on a distant rooftop. An unfortunate cart driver was killed by shrapnel about 500 meters away from the place of the explosion […] One of the dead, the gunsmith’s nephew, private Periklis Stylas, is believed to have caused the explosion. He is said to have descended to the storeroom of the laboratory and to have been fiddling with a gun near a corner where ready-made fireworks were kept.
