The deputy president of EODASAAM (National Organization for the Investigation of Air and Railway Accidents and Transport Safety), Christos Papadimitriou, submitted his resignation in a letter to the responsible deputy minister of Transport, Konstantinos Kyranakis.
According to information, Papadimitriou realized the very heavy atmosphere that was created against him after the morning appearances of Deputy Prime Minister Kostis Hatzidakis and government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis, who indirectly but clearly called on him to resign after his inconsistent statements and actions. Thus, he recently sent his resignation letter to the deputy minister responsible for EODASAAM, Konstantinos Kyranakis, who was of the opinion that after what happened, he could not remain in his position.
"I believe that EODASAAM has prepared a solid conclusion, valuable for the future of rail transport in Greece. The only exception is the issue of pyrosphere, which, in the opinion of the entire Council, requires further investigation. I have been stating this since the day the conclusion was presented," says Mr. Papadimitriou in his resignation letter.
Christos Papadimitriou's resignation letter
Dear Minister,
Since 18/9/2023, I have tried to serve the common interest responsibly and scientifically, in a difficult situation. I undertook to create a non-existent railway accident investigation body and I believe that within 18 months I managed to create for the first time in Greece a competent accident investigation body, renouncing any other professional occupation and dedicating myself day and night and 365 days a year to the titanic task of creating EODASAAM
I believe that EODASAAM has developed a solid argument, valuable for the future of rail transport in Greece. The only exception is the issue of pyrosphere, which in the opinion of the entire Council, as expressed in the Minutes of 26/2/2025, requires further investigation. I have been stating this since the day the conclusion was presented.
With conscience and responsibility, I submit my resignation to you for personal and family reasons.
Hatzidakis: Repetitions from Mr. Papadimitriou, not positioned in a coherent manner
“The truth about Tempi, no matter how long it takes, will be revealed and everything will be clarified,” Deputy Prime Minister Kostis Hatzidakis said, speaking on SKAI radio on Wednesday morning (9/4). “The attempt to cover up the truth by part of the opposition and some who pose as experts is already beginning to be understood by a very significant part of public opinion.”
Regarding EODASAAM and Christos Papadimitriou, Mr. Hatzidakis pointed out that “if you exclude the pyrosphere, in the rest of his part the conclusion is serious regarding the direction of the relevant proposals and suggestions of the European Union”. “Indeed, regarding the pyrosphere, Mr. Papadimitriou has positioned himself in a way that you would not call coherent in recent days, falling into palinody,” he added.
"The government has made it clear from the beginning that it has nothing to hide. What is the major issue in this whole story? Obviously the responsibilities of the stationmaster and the situation of the OSE, and I believe that it will return there until the end. There are responsibilities of the government in this matter, I will not tell you the opposite. After all, 43 prosecutions have been brought for this to date and there is also a minister who said on his own that he would go to the Judicial Council to be judged directly. So the government has every reason to want the truth to be revealed, because it will be proven that it may have responsibilities regarding the situation of the OSE, it may have made communication-related mistakes, but it has nothing to hide. We do not want to cover up anyone. If there is a cover-up, there is a cover-up of the truth by some who had findings and put them in a drawer and by those who pretend to be experts when they are not."
Kyranakis on EODASAAM: The image of the scoundrel cannot continue
"The image of the troublemaker cannot continue and the government must take initiatives," Deputy Minister of Transport, Konstantinos Kyranakis, emphasized, speaking to realfm earlier today.
Asked about the contradictory statements of the deputy president of EODASAAM, Christos Papadimitriou, Konstantinos Kyranakis, stressed that "the image of contradictions damages the credibility of the organization. I believe that the president will take initiatives," while clarifying that the president of the organization is not Mr. Papadimitriou but Mr. Dritsakos.
Vertigo from the backflips for the pyrosphere
It is recalled that on Monday, EODASAAM, represented by Mr. Papadimitriou, was believed to be convinced that the hypothesis of the existence of a cargo of some unknown fuel on the commercial train should be deleted from the conclusions of the Tempi report. On Tuesday, however, the same Organization and the same person expressing its official opinion, reverted to the original position, as stated in the report made public on February 27, 2025.
So, today EODASAAM believes that the pyrosphere is related to the mysterious combustible material. Until it changes its mind again, of course, following the endless swing of a pendulum, between adopting the conspiracy theory and denying it, from day to day.
Yesterday, Tuesday, April 8, 2025, the board of directors of EODASAAM met. The minutes of this meeting state, among other things, that the President of the Organization, Mr. Christos Papadimitriou, acknowledges the existence of an email sent to him by the independent expert and technical advisor to the families who lost members in the Tempi tragedy. In the email in question, Mr. Lakafosis informed EODASAAM that he was corresponding with the University of Ghent in Belgium, which participated in the scientific investigation of the Tempi accident.
In this way, it was officially confirmed that the Independent Family Expert Investigation Committee (EDAPO, of which Kostas Lakafosis is a member) has been collaborating with Ghent since the end of January 2025 to investigate the causes that led to the creation of the pyrosphere.
However, Mr. Papadimitriou, as he himself admits, did not take into account this crucial message from Mr. Lakafosis. And he did not do so because, simply, he did not find the time to read the entire message, along with the attached documents. “Due to the enormous volume of his correspondence and his non-involvement in the investigation of the pyrosphere,” as the minutes from the last meeting of EODASAAM characteristically state about the inability of the president of the Organization to read his correspondence.
Ignoring, therefore, Lakafosis' email about the parallel cooperation of the independent experts with Ghent, Mr. Papadimitriou on Monday turned against EDAPO, which prompted the Prosecutor of the Supreme Court to order a judicial investigation into whether there was undue influence exerted on judicial officers through the allegedly erroneous conclusion about the pyrosphere. In addition, Prosecutor Georgia Adeilini specifically requested an examination of the role played by Costas Lakafosis in the dissemination of the theory about the illegal cargo.
Therefore, in simple terms, Mr. Papadimitriou, based on incomplete evidence and in a state of confusion, changing and changing his opinion about the pyrosphere, "brought EDAPO to the forefront". Something that, based on common sense, he would not have done if he had previously opened Kostas Lakafosis's email.
At the same time as his inconsistency regarding the role of EDAPO, Mr. Christos Papadimitriou completely reversed his view on the strong pressures that, as he himself had revealed just 24 hours earlier, he was receiving from the vice-president of the European Railway Agency (ERA), Mr. Bart Akou. Mr. Papadimitriou's previous position was that ERA and specifically Mr. Akou did not want the fireball in Tempe to be linked to silicone oils, as stated in the conclusions of the report prepared by EODASAAM.
Based on the words of Mr. Papadimitriou, "Europeans consider Greece to be Uganda and therefore they did not want the theory of silicone oil ignition to prevail under any circumstances. If such a thing were to happen, it would automatically raise the issue of the corresponding electric locomotives that carry 2/3 of the trains across Europe."
Yesterday, however, Tuesday, Mr. Papadimitriou attempted a spectacular coup. And not only is he not going to delete the chapter from the conclusions of the finding concerning the pyrosphere, but he is now once again embracing the theory of the unknown fuel. Saying that "the EODASAAM finding is a documentation and a reference to all the errors that led to the collision and not a research on the pyrosphere. The council expresses its support for the finding and the impeccable work of the investigation team and emphasizes that the assessment regarding the non-participation in the phenomenon of the creation of the pyrosphere of silicone oils is based on a certificate from the AUTH professor Mr. Konstantopoulou and of course remains as it is. In no case does the EODASAAM Board of Directors state that the assessment included in the finding is incorrect. "But, as the committee itself had requested, the assessment should be confirmed and certified immediately. And when this is done, the relevant part of the report will come back with fully certified results and assessments from top university institutions."
From the above, it is obvious that the lack of even elementary consistency in the statements of EODASAAM eliminates any validity and credibility that the Organization could claim. Which was established at the initiative of the government, with the special mission to investigate the causes of the tragedy in a methodical, scientific and coordinated manner. A mission which it has indeed fulfilled to a very large extent, although this is now of negligible importance, due to the successive reversals and twists.
Source: protothema.gr
