Image: APA/AFP
Chronis (59) speaks of a catastrophe. He owns a restaurant in Potistika and helped in the search for the missing couple from Graz. Since the beginning of the week, no one has had any contact with Philip and Michaela – both are 35 years old. They tied the knot in Argalasti, Greece, ten days ago. They wanted to enjoy their honeymoon in a bungalow in the coastal town of Potistika in the Pelion region. Then came the storms, the record rain and with it the masses of water, as the Kleine Zeitung reports.
On Thursday, the Foreign Ministry confirmed that there was no trace of the woman and the man. There was no new information on Friday either; an intensive search was underway, said Antonia Praun from the Foreign Ministry.
“Everyone told them to leave their holiday home, the owner, the other guests, everyone. But they wanted to stay there,” says Chronis desperately. The entire house was then washed away by the water. This is also how the owner of the accommodation, Thanasis Samaras, described it.
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“So far we’ve only found one of their bags, the car is still there, it was parked on the other side of the house,” says Chronis. He has known Michaela and especially her parents for 30 years. The family always comes to the town for vacation. “I’ve known the daughter practically since she was born.” The man is audibly affected.
“Everything possible is being done”
The fire department and police are intensively searching for the couple. Antonia Praun from the Foreign Ministry also reports this. The Austrian embassy in Athens and the honorary consulate in Volos are making every effort and are in close contact with the local authorities to advance the search. “It’s a very, very difficult situation,” says Praun from the Foreign Ministry. In some cases the area can only be reached by boat, and the emergency services are in great demand. “Everything possible is being done,” emphasizes Praun, who is also in contact with the relatives. Towards the evening the situation improved slightly. “We hope that this will open up new avenues and allow more emergency services to come.”
Chronis, who is still on site, speaks of people who are still trapped. “There is no infrastructure at all anymore, no water, no fuel, no medicine.”
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The Foreign Ministry is in contact with around 60 Austrians who are still in disaster areas.
A total of almost 2,000 people have been rescued so far, fire department spokesman Vasilios Vathrakogiannis told the news channel ERTnews on Friday. The number of deaths remained at six as of Friday morning. It is unclear how many people are missing.
Source: Nachrichten
