The body of the fifth woman who was missing after the explosion and fire that broke out yesterday at the Violanta biscuit factory in Trikala was found early Tuesday morning. She is Agapi Bounova, who, according to information, was a wife, mother and grandmother.
The unfortunate woman was found near the bodies of the other three women, who had been found first, while the ground at that particular spot had not subsided. In total, the deadly explosion at the factory cost the lives of five workers.
How the tragedy happened
The tragedy occurred in the early hours of Monday morning, when the fire broke out shortly before 4:00 in a wing of the factory. According to the Fire Department, it was preceded by a powerful explosion, which contributed to the collapse of most of the factory and left five women trapped inside. Of the 13 workers who were in the factory at the time, eight managed to safely evacuate, while the five women were missing and were being searched for immediately after the incident.
Ongoing investigations and involvement of authorities
The Fire Department and the EMAK, with the assistance of construction equipment, located the bodies of the four women yesterday, while the fifth was located today. Authorities are examining all possibilities for the cause of the explosion.
The Arson Crimes Prevention Directorate (DAEE) has already gone to the scene and is collecting statements from the workers who managed to escape, in order to shed light on the incident.
At the same time, two experts have been appointed from Athens to investigate the circumstances of the explosion, with an electrical engineer, a chemical engineer and a pyrotechnician undertaking the analysis of the causes.
The question of causes and scenarios
The cause of the explosion remains unknown, and the scenarios being examined by authorities include technical failures, infrastructure defects or even human error. Despite the ongoing effort to clarify the causes, initial indications indicate that the explosion was powerful enough to cause such widespread damage and leave human tragedies in its wake.
The Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Yiannis Kefalogiannis, stated that cooperation with the prosecutor's office will continue and that the investigations will be carried out to the end to ensure the full clarification of the events. The country's political parties expressed their sadness for the victims, while the Mayor of Trikala proposed declaring three days of municipal mourning as a sign of respect for the victims.
Over 1.000 points in the factory
The noise from the explosion was so loud that it was heard even in neighboring villages, according to residents. The fire generated temperatures of over 1.000 degrees, indicating that the steel melted while part of the infrastructure collapsed from both the explosion and the heat generated.
A team from the Hellenic Fire and Rescue Service was at the scene of the tragedy, taking statements from workers who were rescued from the fire, in order to collect information about what happened and provide answers to the causes that caused the explosion. The main scenario being examined is that of a "violent explosion": That is, there was an undetected propane leak and the explosion was caused by a spark (it could even have been from the lighting of a switch). The fire followed as a consequence. The questions that arise are many, the main one being why the gas was not detected, whether there were such detectors in place and in operation, when the adequacy of the systems was checked.
Source: protothema.gr
