SYRIZA gov’t knew of deaths, testimonies indicate

Radio conversations between Fire Service officials and firemen on the evening of the 2018 east Attica wildfires included in the case file compiled by the judicial authorities indicate that the SYRIZA government at the time was aware of the first casualties before a meeting convened at the Civil Protection Agency’s operations center under then prime minister Alexis Tsipras later in the night. 

According to one of the transcripts, a fireman informed his superiors that at least three people were found dead in the area and said that civil protection authorities were notified. 

Former citizens’ protection minister Nikos Toskas, who was present at the July 23, 2018 meeting has said that he did not immediately share the reports with Tsipras because the “information was still vague.” 

The case file on the response to the blaze, which claimed 102 lives, is to be sent to a judicial council.