Hearts broke for one more time and tears rolled down when survivors of the deadly fire gathered in Mati to commemorate the 102 souls that found torturing death on 23 July 2018. A national tragedy that took place just 30 km away from the Greek capital Athens.
During the memorial service, the names of the victims were read, one by one, 102 people. First on the list of dead a baby 3 months old. “Not baptized baby – Immortal, Avramidou Aikaterini, – Immortal…” The list seems endless, two, three and four people have the same family name.
Relatives and friends hugged each other in silence with eyes filled with tears. Among them also survivors of the flamboyant nightmare still suffering from their injuries.
They all made a silent journey through the “streets of fire” where people were trapped and burned to death.
A year after the tragedy and they still cannot understand why so many people had to lose their lives.
“There was nobody there to support us,” survivors complain, “Nobody told us anything”, “Nobody helped us.”
Majority of people died in Mati, dozens later in the hospitals.
Survivors cannot forget their beloved ones, the nightmare they experienced waiting for help.
20 officials from local governments, fire service and police have been charged for the deadly blaze. Justice investigation continues.
More pictures from the Mati memorial in local media irafina.
