The couple, a 73-year-old man from the Kambounia area and his 68-year-old wife from Livadero, both residents of Switzerland, were returning to Kozani for the Easter holidays when the tragedy occurred initial identification was made possible through details provided by the car rental company as the couple was driving a rented vehicle Due to the severe condition of the victims’ remains DNA testing will be conducted to formally confirm their identities This video evidence is expected to provide critical insights into the sequence of events Hellenic Police spokesperson Konstantia Dimoglidou noted that early reports suggesting a driver may have attempted to reverse in the e-pass lane have not been substantiated “The Traffic Police are working to clarify exactly what happened at the scene,” she said adding that retrieving the video footage has been challenging due to technical issues caused by the fire which completely destroyed one of the toll booths Investigators are also collecting witness statements from individuals present at the Polygyros toll booth to piece together the circumstances of the crash The loss of the couple, who had returned to their ancestral home to celebrate the Orthodox Easter authorities are focused on providing answers to the grieving family and ensuring such tragedies are prevented in the future You must be logged in to post a comment Authorities are investigating a break-in at the Sithonia Municipality Urban Planning Office in the northern region of Halkidiki discovered Thursday after officials reported a forced entry and the case is being handled by the Polygyros Crime Investigation Unit The burglary comes amid a corruption scandal involving urban planning officials across Halkidiki bank accounts and safety deposit boxes linked to key suspects in the case Five to six deposit boxes are under scrutiny to uncover any co-owners or suspicious activity Authorities revealed officials used coded language such as “eggs” and “geese” to disguise bribes The bribes allegedly facilitated illegal construction permits and administrative approvals Sithonia Mayor Ioannis Mallinis has suspended public services at the urban planning office until January 7 Suspects are scheduled to appear before an investigative judge on Friday and Saturday Charges include participation in a criminal organization Enter your information below to receive our weekly newsletters with the latest insights opinion pieces and current events straight to your inbox one raid mounted on a quiet rural grower netted an illicit haul worth €300,000 The Polygyros olive oil cooperative does not seem a likely target for a heist. If anything, its setting, at the foot of the Holomontas mountain in Halkidiki, evokes the bucolic innocence of rural Greece Certainly its breezeblock warehouses bear little resemblance to the modern premises that house the Mitseas olive mills in southern Messinia But in recent weeks both have been targeted by thieves who gained entry through a battered iron door in Polygyros and a hi-tech security portal in Messinia “The oil has gone,” said Yannis Keliafanos With at least 37 tonnes thought to have disappeared from the cooperative’s storage facilities and more than 100kg believed to have been taken from plastic barrels in Messinia the raids have cast a new light on Homer’s enduring description of olive oil as liquid gold “We’re talking about very big business,” said Manolis Yiannoulis “Thirty-seven tonnes in today’s market would be worth more than €300,000 When olive oil prices in the last year have increased by 200% because of low yields A large proportion of Greece’s workforce earns less than €1,000 (£870) a month With the cost of living crisis hitting hard the prospect of valuable oil has not only spurred thieves to break into remote village homes but raid graveyards – where stockpiles are kept by clerics for use in vigil lamps they go for olive oil,” said Themis Kanellopoulos “In upper Messinia there have been cases of houses being broken into with thieves only interested in storage areas and for the first time we have seen olive oil stolen from cemeteries.” The prospect of another poor harvest has not eased the situation said: “Olive mills have taken security measures but our worry is it will be the trees themselves that are targeted next There have been instances of fruit being stolen from orchards at night.” People here will have to start thinking seriously of transferring groves further north to places like Thrace that are coolerGiorgos Oikonomou SevitelGreece is the world’s third biggest producer of “liquid gold” after Spain and Italy although by proportion it produces unrivalled amounts of high-quality extra virgin olive oil: 82% of its annual 300,000-tonne output As in Spain, it is climate breakdown that has intensified fears of severe shortages of olive oil with growers speaking of groves experiencing a winter of very little rain before being hit by temperatures that this summer surpassed 47C “We’re looking at Greek production rates being cut by half this year,” said Yiannoulis “The imbalance in demand and supply is behind the very big price increases which producers are enjoying but which are very much hurting consumers.” This reality is already being reflected at supermarkets domestic consumption of an ingredient no Greek would have previously done without has dropped by an unprecedented 30% with many turning to less pricey alternatives such as sunflower oil “Our biggest fear is the decline we have seen in Greece,” said Giorgos Oikonomou the Athens-based Association of Greek Olive Oil Standardization Industries “People are opting for seed oils because they are one-third of the price Then there is the hesitation of countries like Britain which are now thinking twice about importing [our] olive oils because of soaring costs.” But the spate of thefts is a small matter next to the climate problems farmers will inevitably have to deal with with global heating in the Mediterranean basin set to accelerate 20% faster than any other region “People here will have to start thinking seriously of transferring olive groves further north to places like Thrace and Macedonia that are cooler,” he said “We have been cultivating olives in Greece for 4,000 years and what we are seeing now is truly unprecedented.” This is the archive of The Observer up until 21/04/2025 The Observer is now owned and operated by Tortoise Media An amusement park ride on which a teen lost his life last week was reportedly sold for scrap in 2020 but its new owner decided to keep it in operation after making improvised repairs who is described as the owner of an amusement park in the town of Katerini has been asked to testify to an investigating magistrate about the case She allegedly contacted the victim’s father and told him that in 2020 she had sold the deadly ride called the “Crazy Dance,” to its current owner The ride was destined for scrap in Bulgaria but its new owner allegedly put it back into use after carrying out makeshift repairs the head of the Thessaloniki Appellate Prosecutor’s Office has requested the First Instance prosecutor of Polygyros to personally supervise three ongoing criminal investigations linked to the teen’s death The first investigation concerns the deadly accident itself the second the operating regime of the amusement park and the third the certifications it received to operate both this year and in previous years the father of the 19-year-old victim presented a prosecutor in Polygyros with documents related to the safety of the ride as well as the operating status of the amusement park A bloody incident with three people injured occurred at midnight Friday at a well-known beach bar in Hanioti while another suffered injuries from a beating The injured were taken by ambulance to the Kassandria Health Centre and then it was deemed necessary to transfer them to the Polygyros Hospital The state of health of the man who was shot is considered by the doctors to be particularly serious At the time of the gunfight in the beach bar a live music night with the artist Manos Kagias was in progress The event caused panic among customers and staff Young children were running with their parents There was panic,” a woman who was present at the incident told thestival.gr Police are collecting statements from eyewitnesses to determine the circumstances under which the incident took place it is considered likely that people belonging to the Bulgarian mafia were involved It goes on to state: “The 2 ambulances picked up all three injured for further and transfer to the Kassandra Health Centre and Polygyros Hospital… Information about a fatality up to this moment of writing this post does not exist and I tell you 100% and anything else is false.” Follow en.protothema.gr on Google News and be the first to know all the news See all the latest News from Greece and the World, the moment they happen, at en.protothema.gr Polygyros has a high level of seismic activity Based on data from the past 55 years and our earthquake archive back to 1900 there are about 1,100 quakes on average per year in or near Polygyros Polygyros has had at least 9 quakes above magnitude 6 since 1900 which suggests that larger earthquakes of this size occur infrequently probably on average approximately every 10 to 15 years The last earthquake in Polygyros occurred 1 hour and 33 minutes ago and had a magnitude of 1.1: Mag. 1.1 earthquake Aegean Sea - Central Macedonia, Greece - writeAge(1746507720)A light magnitude 1.1 earthquake occurred in the Aegean Sea near Thassos island The quake had a very shallow depth of 5 km (3.1 mi) and was too small to be felt by people Polygyros has had 3 quakes of magnitude 2.0 or above There were also 19 quakes below magnitude 2.0 which people don't normally feel The quake had a very shallow depth of 12.3 km (8 mi) and was not felt (or at least not reported so).