As fire victims named, their stories emerge


As an investigation deepens into the causes of last month’s catastrophic wildfires in Attica, an official list naming 91 victims was made public on Thursday even as the death toll rose to 93 after a 78-year-old burns victim died in the hospital. 

Ninety-one of the victims were identified by name while DNA samples have been taken from the other two but no relatives have come forward. 

The list includes the names of 45 women, 35 men and 11 children including a 6-month-old infant, the youngest victim of the blazes whose firefighter father was on duty on the night of the fires and also lost his wife in the disaster. Twin 9-year-old sisters and their grandparents are also among those named. 

The oldest victim was a 93-year-old woman. 

The list includes the names of two Polish nationals, Beate-Teresa Korzeniowska, 40, and her 9-year-old son, Kacper-Nikolaj, who drowned. It also names Irishman Brian O’Callaghan-Westropp, who had been on his honeymoon in Mati with his wife, who survived. 

A 64-year-old Belgian man, Dirk Bonte, also drowned in his attempt to escape the flames by boat while his son survived. 

The dead included 13 families while dozens more families survived the blazes but saw their homes destroyed. 

Many residents of the affected areas want to see a memorial set up for those who died, Kathimerini has learned. 

Meanwhile a judicial probe aimed at apportioning blame for last month’s wildfires continued on Thursday, with members of the fire service who were on duty on July 23 visiting Athens first instance prosecutor Ilias Zagoraios and his deputy Varvara Gnesouli.  

The revelations by Kathimerini earlier this week of discrepancies between evidence from the fire service’s electronic archives and the testimonies of some fire service officers are expected to prompt a new strand in the ongoing judicial investigation.

Zagoraios’s intent, according to sources, is to question as many witnesses as possible over the next 10 days with the aim of summoning the first suspects by the end of the month.

The same prosecutor is spearheading a parallel probe, at the request of Justice Minister Stavros Kontonis, into illegal construction in coastal areas and forestland after it emerged that most of the properties in Mati, the settlement in eastern Attica that was hardest hit in the fires, had been illegally built.

The list of named victims (with parents' names in parenthesis) is as follows: 

  1. Dimitrios-Aristidis Alexopoulos (Anastasios and Adriani), b. 2005
  2. Emila Androulidaki (Evangelos and Kassiani), b. 1945
  3. Zoi Athanasopoulou (Giorgos and Styliani), b. 1932
  4. Ekaterini Avramidou (Nikolaos and Garyfallia), b. 1971
  5. Dirk Bonte (Hendrik and Mariette), b. 1954, Belgium
  6. Styliani Christofidou (Stavros and Athina), b. 1959
  7. Thekla Desypri (Ioannis and Maria), b. 1957
  8. (unnamed infant) Dimitriou (Andreas and Margarita), b. 23 January 2018
  9. Margarita Dionysioti (Haralambos and Maria), aged 56
  10. Nikoleta Doutsa (Gavaki) (Ioannis and Angela), b. 1972
  11. Panagiotis Doxas (Argyrios and Marianthi), b. 1998
  12. Argyrios Doxas (Panagiotis and Ourania), b. 1958
  13. Haralambos Drouvis (Christos and Eleni), b. 1945
  14. Filippos Filippopoulos (Ioannis and Eleni), b. 1946
  15. Sofia Filippopoulou (Ioannis and Spyridoula), b. 1957
  16. Sofia Filippopoulou (Ioannis and Georgia), b. 2009
  17. Vasiliki Filippopoulou (Ioannis and Georgia), b. 2009
  18. Andreas Fytros (Grigorios and Varvara), b. 2007
  19. Grigorios Fytros (Andreas and Evdokia), b. 1964
  20. Evdokia Fytrou (Grigorios and Varvara)
  21. Maria Galani (Konstantinos and Irini), b. 1977
  22. Panagiota Gazepidou-Gazepi (Athanasios and Maria), b. 1964
  23. Panagiotis Hamilothoris (Evangelos and Panagiotis), b. 1989
  24. Nikolaos Hatzopoulos (Christos and Stella), b. 1934
  25. Evpraxia Herouveim (Aristeidis and Vasiliki), b. 1944
  26. Maria-Iliana Herouveim (Vassiliki), b. 2013
  27. Vasiliki Herouveim (Stylianos and Evpraxia), b. 1965
  28. Evpraxia-Melina Herouveim , b. 2013
  29. Spyridon Kakaris (Konstantinos and Katerina), b. 1978
  30. Maria Kalapanida (Ioannis and Athanasia), b. 1933
  31. Marianthi Kalapanida (Evangelou and Maria)
  32. Nikolaos Kaleyiannakos (Ioannis and Adriani), b. 1933
  33. Ioannis Kaleyiannakos (Nikolaos and Paraskevi), b. 1967
  34. Paraskevi Kaleyiannakou (Vasileios and Velouda), b. 1944
  35. Smaragda Kandalepa (Epaminondas and Domna), aged 85
  36. Garyfallia Karagiaouri (Fotios and Maria), b. 1952
  37. Athina Karali (Michail and Anastasia), b. 1970
  38. Vasilios Katsargyris
  39. Markos Katsoulakis (Polydoros and Niki), b. 1975
  40. Polydoros-Paris Katsoulakis (Markos and Katerina), b. 1998
  41. Konstantinos Kertsos (Thomas and Maria), aged 83
  42. Ioannis Kladios (Aristidis and Chrysoula), b. 1934
  43. Iakovos Kladios (Ioannis and Maria), b. 1971
  44. Maria Kladiou (Nikolaos and Stamatina), b. 1937
  45. Panagiotis Kokkinidis (Giorgos and Pipina), b. 1979
  46. Georgios Kokkinidis (Panagiotis and Kassiani), b. 2010
  47. Dimitrios Kokkinidis (Panagiotis and Kassiani), b. 2013
  48. Pipina Kokkinidou , aged about 67
  49. Marianthi Konstantaki (Andreas and Angeliki), b. 1933
  50. Beata-Teresa Korzeniowska (Wincenty and Barbara), b. 1980, Poland
  51. Kacper-Nikolaj Korzeniowski (Jaroslaw and Beata-Teresa), b. 2009, Poland
  52. Nikolas Kossoras (Dimitrios and Evmorfia), b. 1950
  53. Vasileia Kostopoulou (Evangelos and Georgia), b. 1967
  54. Maria Koukla-Polychronidou (Giorgos and Sofia), b. 1947
  55. Christos Kouklas (Ioannis and Vasiliki), b. 1941
  56. Michail Labridis (Vasilios and Maria), b. 1945
  57. Angeliki Mascha (Stylianos and Kalliopi), b. 1933
  58. Angelos Maschas (Panagiotis and Marika), b. 1930
  59. Vasileia Mavridou (Nikolaos and Evangelia), b. 1959
  60. Viktoras Michas (Giorgos and Athina), b. 1993
  61. Aspasia Moraiti (Konstantinos and Eleni), b. 1927
  62. Maria Moshou (Michail and Elizabet), aged 56
  63. Katina Nitsotoli (Dimitrios and Marouda), b. 1952
  64. Brian O’Callaghan-Westropp (Denis and Mary), b. 1972, Ireland
  65. Kostoula Orfanou (Dimitrios and Dimitra), b. 1936
  66. Maria Pagomenou (Konstantinos and Olga), b. 1945
  67. Vasiliki Palioura (Minas and Maria), b. 1945
  68. Ioannis Papaioannou (Giorgos and Artemis), b. 1957
  69. Spyridon Papapostolou (Athanasios and Eleni), b. 1935
  70. Moira Patelarou (Dimitrios and Ioanna), b. 1931
  71. Evangeli Petala (Thomas and Agora), b. 1943
  72. Dionysios Petalas (Vasileios and Maria), b. 1929
  73. Leonidas Plymakis (Iosif and Maria), b. 1943
  74. Evgenia Politou (Grigorious and Kassiani), b. 1941
  75. Michail Polyportis (Ioannis and Dimitra), b. 1952
  76. Eleni Sarieva (Nikiforos and Nina), b. 1962
  77. Evangelia Siapera (Leonidas and Maria), b. 1941
  78. Kalliopi Siapkara (Angelos and Eleni), b. 1983
  79. Eleni Sideri (Periklis and Olga), b. 1925
  80. Zabeta Skaramaga (Nikolaos and Fotini), b. 1941
  81. Dimitrios Skaramagas (Emmanouil and Irini), b. 1932
  82. Kassiani Spanou (Dimitrios and Evangelia), b. 1978
  83. Chrysi Spilioti (Giorgos and Katerina), b. 1956
  84. Dimitrios Tournavitis (Michail and Irini-Magdalini), b. 1964
  85. Pavlos Tsarbos (Kyriakos and Paraskevi), b. 1958
  86. Viktor Tsekos (Pantelis and Magdalini), b. 1959
  87. Efthymios Vonikopoulos (Theodoros and Sofia), b. 1963
  88. Sofia Yianakopoulou (Konstantinos and Sevastia), b. 1932
  89. Angeliki Yiannopoulou (Panagiotis and Chrysanthi), b. 1930
  90. Efstratios Zafeiriou (Theodoros and Domna), aged 85