Greece The News Weekly

Tears at the Mati victims memorial service one year after deadly fires

Citizen Protection Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis attended the memorial service held on Sunday in memory of the 102 victims of the deadly fire in Mati a year ago.

“I can assure you that such a tragedy must not and will not happen again. We will work hard to achieve this,” Chrisochoidis stressed.

“On behalf of the Prime Minister, I am conveying his participation in the mourning for the people lost,” he said.

“The mourning of the people who lost their relatives, their children. We are also close to those who have suffered injuries. There are a number of issues that are open. From urban planning to health, as I have said before.”

On his part, newly elected local governor Giorgos Patoulis reassured that “the Region of Attica will do its best to avoid such incidents in the future.”

It was July 23, 2018 when one of the worst tragedies of recent decades took place:

102 dead, dozens of people with burns, hundreds of homes destroyed and one of the most beautiful seaside towns in Attica burnt to the ground.
As Greece still mourns the victims and the devastation of the fires at Mati and Kinetta, the Up Drones team created a video to commemorate the disaster in the hope that such destruction will not happen again.

Titled “July 23, 2018: The Black Day of Greece”, the video shows the two seaside towns the way they were before and the day after the inferno.

The green landscape is blackened, the turquoise waters are filled with ashes and decay and the sun is hiding behind the smoke.

The cries of the people who count the losses of their loved ones and lost their homes and their belongings can be heard.

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