Today marks five years since the fatal car accident of February 18, 2016, which cut the thread of the life of the singer Pantelis Pantelidis.
The beloved folk singer was killed on Vouliagmeni Avenue, when the car he was driving veered off course and crashed into the protective bars, sinking in sadness the artistic space and, above all, the huge audience that admired him, followed him faithfully and remembered him with adoration. until today.
The Pantelis Pantelidis phenomenon
The case of Pantelis Pantelidis differs from other singers, as its story is reminiscent of a fairy tale. Greece had many years to "bring out" a singer so popular that he managed to climb to the top in a very short time and be loved by all categories of music lovers. Pantelis Pantelidis, not only conquered the above, but he did it himself. With passion, simplicity and immediacy that could "speak" to even the most "difficult" listener.
Pantelis Pantelidis started his career by uploading improvised videos with his songs on Youtube. Holding a simple acoustic guitar in his room, he sang the melodies and lyrics that he "scammed" with simplicity, but also passion. Very soon the videos with his songs went viral and were spread by word of mouth, until a record company offered him a collaboration and thus began the road to success.
From the room of his house he was found singing as his first name in the most popular entertainment centers of Athens, collaborating with renowned local artists and being glorified as a god in "mountains" of carnations. His songs became hits one after another. At the speed of light, it became the ultimate idol and symbol of nightlife, while, at the same time, it was the n1 in demand name in stores - not only in Athens, but throughout Greece, which was plagued by the financial crisis.
His fans - people of all ages and classes - saw Pantelis Pantelidis as the child next door. What "won" the world from the beginning and continued to have until the last moment, was the simplicity and immediacy of his songs, which were "born" through everyday stories and personal experiences. At the same time, his start, his launch and the way he was at the top, helped to love even more the popular kid who won what he won with his value and talent.
The fatal car accident of 2016
The glowing spotlights suddenly went out, at the moment when Pantelis Pantelidis was at the peak of his career. At that time she was preparing for another successful series of appearances, with Despina Vandi and Costas Martakis at the nightclub TEATRO. The premiere would take place on February 19. Two days before, at 8:10 on Thursday morning (18/02/2016) on Vouliagmeni Avenue, at the height of Elliniko, the car driven by 32-year-old Pantelis Pantelidis deviated from its course, overturned and crashed into the guardrails .
EKAB was immediately called to the scene and the ambulance transported him to the Asclepieion of Voula, where the doctors confirmed his death. The firefighters took about an hour to free him from the vehicle, as they had to make surgical movements to cut the sheets of the jeep, leaving intact the body of the singer, but also of the two young girls who were riding in the vehicle, 30-year-old Mina Arnaouti and 20-year-old Frosos Kyriakou.
According to the traffic report: “At 8.10 on the exit bridge from the former eastern airport, a Mercedes vehicle was moving in the direction of Vouliagmeni Avenue. The 33-year-old driver Pantelis Pantelidis was moving in the current towards the exit for Athens when the vehicle overturned to the right of its course, collided with a concrete parapet (about 40 cm high) and then on metal railings, as a result of which the vehicle overturned ".
The exact direction of the vehicle was from the flyover of the former Eastern Airport, just before the exit for Vouliagmeni Avenue at the height of Iasonidou Street and in the direction of Athens. The violent collision resulted in the fatal injury of the singer, the serious injury of one passenger and the lightest of the other. Thousands of people gathered at the last farewell for the popular singer, whose funeral became a popular pilgrimage, while many people visited the site of the fatal car accident, leaving flowers.
The legal dispute and the conclusion
It has been only a few weeks since the day that Justice said its last word in the case of Pantelis Pantelidis and specifically around the clear questioning of the singer's family, about whether he was the one who drove the jeep on the fateful night.
The Deputy Prosecutor of the Court of Appeals, adopting the position of the Public Prosecutor's Office, has now definitively forwarded the case file of the car accident to the archive. And she in turn concluded that the driver of the car was none other than Pantelis Pantelidis, removing from the frame Mina Arnaouti and Frosso Kyriakou, the two girls who were also in the vehicle.
This is despite the fact that the family of the undefeated singer, through its lawyer, Ap. Lytra, has pointed out the existence of an eyewitness, according to whom he helped Pantelis Pantelidis to board the position of co-driver. For her part, the prosecutor's office claims that the disputed statement, noting that "his main claim that the vehicle was driven by Frosso Kyriakou is refuted by a large number of unshakable evidence".
Three more similar decisions of the Greek Justice had been issued, all of which concluded that the case should now be put on file. At the same time, other actions of the Pantelidis family seem to have fallen on deaf ears, since -according to information- indictments have been rejected against the Municipality of Elliniko and the State, citing defects at the scene of the accident.
However, the case had been preoccupied from the very first moment, since the facts were not so clear. In the voluminous case file there were reports of experts and medical examiners, as well as testimonies, which did not lead to an indisputable conclusion about who was driving the black jeep on February 18, 2016.
On the one hand, the two engineers in the report of the expertise for the investigation of the conditions of the road accident, which was prepared by the order of the police authorities, did not refer to the person who operated that vehicle that night, but emphasize that whoever driver, he is solely responsible for the accident.
Of course, the document states: “the main factors that influence the creation of an accident are the road and the environment, the road users and the vehicle. The accident in question is not due to the above. Consequently it is ONLY due to a human factor and specifically due to whoever was driving the vehicle at the time of the accident. Anyone who was driving, after initially traveling on the exit bridge of the former East Athens Airport to Vouliagmeni Avenue in the direction of Athens, at the height where it intersects unevenly with the traffic flow of Vouliagmeni Avenue to Glyfada, for some reason lost control of the car and collided with the front right wheel on the raised concrete wall separating the roadway from the pedestrian walkway, the bridge, then slid to the side of the concrete wall, then overturned to the right and slid onto the overpass. began to destroy the iron guardrails of the bridge and overturned, that is, the sky resting on the ground in its final position where it was immobilized. The result of the diversion - collision - overturning was to injure the following persons:
a) Pantelidis Panteleimon (…) fatally injured
b) Arnaouti Myrsini (…) seriously injured
c) Kyriakou Efrosini - Styliani (…) seriously injured ".
On the other hand, both reports that were submitted by order of the authorities and by order of the family were contradictory, since the fact that the body of Pantelis Pantelidis was located in the position of co-driver, was the trigger for different conclusions. However, the Deputy Prosecutor of the Court of Appeals referred to her order at this point as well, pointing out that only in the report of the appointed expert "the initial and final position of the occupants' bodies is clearly and scientifically determined".
Source: news247