Judgment by Mati: "Not my children! Not my husband! This shouldn’t have happened!"

With incredible strength of soul, Varvara Vukakis, who lost two children and her husband, described her personal Calvary, which began on that damned day of July 23, 2018 and continues to this day, living with these black memories.

Part 3. Continued See the first part: Mati fire trial: testimonies of relatives of the dead are shocking and part 2 Mati’s trial: “They didn’t even do the bare minimum, they didn’t even warn people about the need to leave.”

The entire courtroom – even the defendants sitting on the dock – “kneeled” to applause and tears at the majesty of this woman who was forced to endure her worst nightmare for the needs of the grandiose trial unfolding in the Athens Court of Appeal. She complained about the inaction of the state, about the fact that the authorities abandon unsuspecting people, about the lack of coordination, about the lack of order and general irresponsibility.

“Today I would like to be at home, not here with you, waiting for my children to return from school… Help the murders of our people in Mati to become the last tragedy in this country,” the witness said, addressing the judges and starting her testimony in court: “For the sake of Evita, Andres and Gregory. They died in a deadly fire on July 23, 2018 from the criminal inaction and tragic mistakes of all the accused. My husband and children lived in Mati, and I went to Galatzi. I wish I had not been at work in that day.I would like to stay with them.I read on the Internet that there was a fire in Dau Penteli.I called my husband and he said that I need not worry.He heard on TV that the fire was heading for Dionysus and we should worry about our house in Drosia….. I insisted, I kept calling. He went out to Marathonas Avenue to see what was going on. At about six minutes to six, he went out to look. He called me, and it was already a different person. He was terrified, because the fire was coming menacingly. at home to find a safe place with children. As soon as I heard this, I left the office. When I managed to get to Marathonas Avenue, to the exit to Rafina, what I saw was terrifying. Decayed cars. They didn’t understand why they were stopped. I called George, the children on their mobile phones, but they did not pick up the phone.”

Eventually, Ms Wukaki said, she managed to talk to her son Andreas, who was scared. “He told me that he was in the port of Mati, that there were explosions and chaos. “I’m afraid, mother!” – he told me. I told him that I was trying to come and find them. He said: “Don’t come to us, we will come ourselves.” He was scared, but I was not there. I wanted to hold his hand to tell him that everything would be fine, – says the witness and continues, – I called Grigoris. At about 18:30, when he answered the call, he yelled, “We’re on fire! You do not understand! Where can you find us!” My Grigoris did everything possible to save our children. This should not be my family. Not my children, not my husband. Not so…”.

The witness then testified that she had asked a friend to look for her family. The witness described: “I told him to go to the house in Mati and see if he could find them. He calls me and says that ‘there is no one in the house’ and part of the house was on fire and he was trying to put out the fire.”

I left for Mati, loaded down with as many things as I thought the survivors of the fire might need. Before reaching Agia Marina, I saw two police cars that stopped and blocked my way. “Where are you going, mistress? Are you crazy? Everything is burned down below,” they told me, and I replied: “I’ll go through now, I’m looking for my daughter, husband and son.” “Where, in Mati? In what area? There is nothing left. The smell of burning, darkness, dead silence! No one is left alive. Only some people like us (…)”.

I understood that Gregory fled for his life. I captured the moment when I was talking to Giorgi and he was yelling at the kids to leave, and Evita was saying, “Dad, let me put on my shoes,” and he was yelling, “Run in your flip-flops.” I wanted to look street by street. We drove along the coastal road to Mati. Abandonment. Everything burned out…. People with lost faces are looking for their relatives. I don’t know if you can look into our eyes and experience what we experienced. What words describe what happened? What strokes to draw this black picture? (….) We arrived at the place where the cars stood, one on top of the other. Chaos. Inside were the charred bodies of people. Where was my family? Will I find them like this? I see my husband’s abandoned car. I say: my husband and my children are not here! Why did he leave the car unlocked? What made him do it? I did not know. I called their names. Who can answer? What can they say?”

Then, as Ms. Vukaki said, she went to the port of Rafina and there she saw another horror. She discovered that her daughter was dead. In particular, she described: “Every time a boat appeared, we ran up to it. And when none of our people got off it, there was disappointment and … hope …

When I was at the Port Authority, an officer came up to me and said that they had found a little girl. She had a photo on her cell phone. She asked if she could show it to me. I told her yes. I thought it wouldn’t be my baby. And I saw the photo and it wasn’t a mistake and it was my Evita. In her pink T-shirt, as she sent me the video a few hours earlier. She sang and I laughed. Now she was dead. My life is over, but I still have one more child and a husband. I had to hang on and wait. To return to the boats to find them.

The boats approached, but my relatives never went ashore… At some point, we found out that there was a piece of land where firemen had found many dead people. I asked where it is. The description of the place made my legs buckle. It was very close to where the car was found. I lost consciousness! I screamed, who can tell me that when I went outside at night, I, a mother, lost my child and husband … I wanted to go inside. Several policemen closed the barred gates. I tell them: “If you don’t let me in, look, my husband has a tattoo with the names of his children.” A little later, I saw that people from the EMAK rescuers were coming. I begged them to let me inside. We were told that our relatives would be identified by pathologists in Schisto and Goody. Takis (a friend who helped her) found her relatives and gave me information about her husband and my little son. Thus began my Calvary.

I can’t believe that because of the fire, because of the absence of the state, without fire brigades, without air, you end up losing yourself and wandering from one official to another. To be dragged and crushed, and no one knew if your people were here … I myself went to the refrigerators to see, “since you cannot give me an answer.” At some point, the forensic service notified me that DNA was required to officially identify Evita. I asked to see. They let me. Her small hands, her small fingers. I knew about my husband, but I wanted my Andrea. Until the last moment, I was still hopeful. I was informed that my Andreas was also identified and was following the path opened by my Grigoris and Evita.”

I can’t believe that because of the fire, because of the lack of government, because of the lack of firefighters, because of the lack of an antenna, you can end up losing your family and going from one official to another. It’s not us, it’s not our people.

To be continued.

Source link