A 72-year-old man in one of the snowed-in villages in Evia suffered and stroke and died early Wednesday morning because medical help or transfer to a hospital was impossible due to harsh weather conditions.
The man was living with his family in Stropones village where snow has reached a height of more than one meter.
When he suffered a stroke at 11 o’ clock on Tuesday night, his family, relatives and friends launched a race against time to get him medical help.
However, neither at local nor at central level it was possible to send help for the man. No ambulance could reach the man, neither the Fire Service, a helicopter was ready to take off but it was too late.
At some point, a bottle of oxygen was carried to his home from the medical center of the village. It was the last effort to support his breathing in order to keep him alive.
Five hours later, the man passed away.
The tragedy did not occur in some remote village and has Greeks wonder how could this happen just 35 km away from the Greek capital Athens.
The village has been reportedly without power for two days due to the heavy snowfall.
The road to the village was opened on Wednesday morning.
Several villages in North, Central and South Evia are snowed-in and remain without electricity for more than 30 hours.
Video: Steni, Evia via Ant1 TV News live 8pm Jan 8,2019
Heavy snowfalls have uprooted trees that have fallen on power columns or wires, media report.
Whatever the reason, fact is that hundreds of people, among them many elderly and children, remain without heating in temperatures below the freezing point as many households heat their homes with electric heaters.
Although several households have their own generators, locals say that after the long period without electricity the generators are running out of fuel.
Due to power cut, households have also difficulties to be provided with water even if they use water from own drilling.
Heavy snow is not the only reason that people have died in the last few days. Fumes from a makeshift stove killed one man and sent two seriously injured in hospital. The three men, all foreigners, were living in an abandoned house on the island of Rhodes.
Neighbors managed to “rescue” a couple in a home in Patras when they realized the man and the women had fainted due to fumes from makeshift stove. They called the ambulance that transferred them to the hospital, where they remain in critical condition.
