Mourning and blames in the Hellenic Army

Two professional soldiers aged 33 and 34 were killed as well as one 19 year old conscript corporal. The tragic irony for the last is that he was due to complete his national service and return to civilian life in only 13 days.

One 1st Lieutenant was also injured in the accident although is reportedly out of danger after undergoing an operation during which doctors removed a 3 cm piece of shrapnel.

A day after the accident, a heavy shadow hangs over the Hellenic armed forces which has begun investigations into the incident.

Yesterday Kostas Dafnis, the highest ranking military prosecutor remained at the site until late at night. He will remain in the area as preliminary investigations get underway.

The Defense Ministry has launched an official inquiry into the events while in Volos there are now two prosecutors from the Larisa military court.

While few details have emerged about what caused the deaths, there have been reports that the ammunition being used dated from 1984. The soldiers were conducting live ammunition target practice with an 81mm mortar. It appears that a shell did not fire properly and exploded within the mortar, killing all three instantly. Human error also remains a possibility.

Training exercises with live ammunition are routine in the Greek army both for professional soldiers and conscripts. While it is not uncommon for the military to use older ammunition for target practices given that most explosives have an expiry date, the age and state of the ammunition used in the particular case will undoubtedly be one line of investigation for the prosecutors.

According to statements made by the Deputy Defense Minister Ioannis Lambropoulos, the shells had been received by the Hellenic Army in 1995, they were manufactured in Greece and had been properly cleaned.

The Defense Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos declared a three day mourning period for the deceased soldiers.

The three men who lost their lives during the exercise were:

• Anastasios Mezalas, 34, a new father whose child is only 9 months old.
• Georgios Orfanidis, 33, who was married and came from the region of Serres.
• Fotios Andrikopoulos, 19, a conscript with the rank of corporal.
• The last, a business administration student who was less than two weeks from being discharged, was the son of a police officer in Patras. Upon hearing the news of his death, friends and relatives flooded his Facebook page with messages expressing their grief and wishing him a ‘good journey’.