Supreme Court prosecutor opens investigation into mass fish deaths in central Greece
Supreme Court prosecutor Georgia Adelini on Thursday ordered a preliminary investigation into the mass fish deaths in Lake Karla and Pagasitikos Gulf in Volos, central Greece.
According to Adelini’s order, the investigation aims to determine why the dam gate leading from Lake Karla into Pagasitikos Gulf was left open and to identify who made this decision.
“We request that an urgent preliminary investigation be conducted to investigate, among other things, whether the sluice gate leading to the tunnel, which is the sole outlet for the waters of the entire Larissa-Karla plain into Pagasitikos, should have been open,” the order stated.
“Further investigation should determine who made the decision to irrigate the aforementioned plain,” it added.
Greek authorities have started collecting hundreds of thousands of dead fish that poured into a tourist port in the central city of Volos this week after being displaced from their usual freshwater habitats during flooding last year.
Experts said the problem was caused by historic floods last year that inundated Thessaly plane further north, including rivers and lakes. A net was not placed at the mouth of the river leading into Volos, they said. When the fish met the sea, the saltwater likely killed them.
