Four elderly people, aged 69 to 85, were found dead on Monday after a fire broke out in a container home in the town of Konitsa, northwestern Greece.
According to local media, the victims are believed to be four elderly siblings – one man and three women – who lived in the container home after the earthquake of 1996 had destroyed their family home.
The victims lived together in the container home without electricity and had recently also no water supply.
The container was placed in their field next to the Konitsa bridge.
According to neighbors, the siblings lived in difficult conditions, without electricity, and at times they also faced health problems.
Investigating authorities do not rule out that the fire was caused by a candle or oil lamp that they lit in order to have some light.
According to information, Social Welfare had previously been called in to clean the container.
Speaking to newsit.gr, the mayor of Konitsa, Andreas Papaspyrou, said that “at the point where the container is now, their house was destroyed by the 1996 earthquake and they had been given a temporary home. They did not want to abandon it or leave for emotional reasons.”
The mayor added that there had been many attempts by the municipality to find a solution and we were even in some procedures with the prosecutor in order to grant them some kind of pension.
According to the Fire Service, during the extinguishing of the fire, 4 bodies were found, specifically 3 women aged 85, 83, and 69, as well as one man aged 76.”
Their official identification is expected to be made by the competent authorities.
Five fire engines and 10 firefighters from Konitsa and Ioannina responded to the scene and extinguished the blaze.
Investigators from the Fire Service’s investigative division in Ioannina, along with police officers and an ambulance crew, were also dispatched to the site.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation
