Bad weather Elpis: Dramatic accounts from people trapped on Attiki Odos

Thousands are the people who remained trapped for hours inside the cars them in Attica Street with the bad weather Elpis rage and reveal how they were utterly helpless. Indeed drivers who did not leave their vehicles, remain until the morning of Tuesday immobilized at the spot or trapped on another road Attica. Filled with rage and despair, they simply demand that return home after almost 24 hours.

Citizens denounce the complete lack any assistance and any updates for almost a day, while each driver has a nightmarish testimony to recount. Some people have not received their medication, others were unable to leave with the army convoys because they could not walk in the snow, and many have been waiting for hours. communicate with their children to tell them that they are fine. At the same time, the government attributes the nightmarish events of the last 24 hours to company.

The Minister of Citizen Protection, Takis Theodorikakos In fact, in statements made to ERT, he said that 1,800 vehicles had been freed, while approximately 1.200.

They told us to leave Attiki Odos from Kifissias, and we got stuck again.

A citizen who was trapped at the height of Chalandri After 6 a.m., having spent the night trapped on Attiki Odos, she spoke to OPEN about her enormous hardship.

«We had no information from Attiki Odos about the problems, we paid as usual and entered. They finally told us at 6:10 p.m. to turn back at Kifissia because the roads were open and we blocked again. We all got out of our cars and pushed a truck to free it. «If we don't help each other, we'll be stuck here,» he said, with journalist Fotis Karabatakis noting that in the two hours he had been at the scene, no one had come to inform or help them.

She noted that the army helped them by providing blankets and other necessities, and even told them that Attiki Odos might take another day to open. Another citizen who was trapped at the site said that they were not none update about where to go from competent instruments.

We have no help from anywhere

The journalist from ethnos.gr, Kostas Asimakopoulos who covers the events from the morning of Tuesday reported to OPEN what happened in Attica Street. During the broadcast, a cancer patient spoke about the enormous hassle that it has suffered. «I don't see anything being done. We have panic», he noted, adding that no one came by to inform them or help them, not even to offer them a bottle of water. By 5:30 in the morning, only a small group of soldiers had arrived to give them blankets, but there were not enough for everyone.

He himself was trapped. directly opposite the metro station at Doukissis Plakentias and no one had come to help them or clear the way for them.

Kostas Asimakopoulos broadcast yet another shocking image that unfolded before his eyes. Specifically, he stated that some people arrived at the scene police officers and told the people, «Whoever needs us, follow us.» A huge line of people formed, walking a very long distance through the blizzard to safely extricate them.

Images of shame and people in shock

He also reported that there are many trapped citizens who are not from Athens and are stuck on Attiki Odos, so they have nowhere to go even if they manage to get out of the traffic jam. Many drivers the gas is gone and there is no information about who will pick them up and what will happen to their cars. «We saw people leaving for their needs, crying,» noted Kostas Asimakopoulos.

One of elderly woman who, trapped for almost 20 hours in her car suffered shock and started shouting, with the other drivers trying to calm her down. Many have been unable to contact their families since yesterday to let them know they are okay, while hundreds of drivers have not received the medication or medical treatment they need.

The images captured after midnight on Monday are unprecedented. Soldiers on foot carried blankets to the exhausted people, while, following a request from Civil Protection to TRAINOSE, a suburban train went to Attiki Odos to transport people safely. When some people were asked to walk a kilometer in the night and in the snow, it was only natural that, after more than 12 hours of hardship, tensions would rise... Ethnos.gr and Kostas Asimakopoulos were there and recorded the moments.

Akis Pavlopoulos: Trapped on Attiki Odos for 17 hours

The OPEN journalist Akis Pavlopoulos who was trapped at 11:30 a.m. on Attiki Odos was freed at 4:00 a.m. Speaking on the show, he described the moments of his rescue. «We managed to use one of the exits, with the help of the army. The cars were so frozen when they told us we could leave that we had literally frozen. The soldiers gave blankets to children to protect them. Several gave up their cars and followed the stairs to hotels or to the suburban railway.

«Many have been left behind in Attica Street»He noted and added that he never imagined that so many people could be trapped «on the most expensive and most advertised street in Greece» and spoke of a «five-star hell.».

I started shivering from the cold – The train that arrived took the passengers away – give

The sound engineer of OPEN Monica Galanopoulou She was one of the people trapped on what is supposed to be «the safest road in the country» and spoke on the program «Ora Ellados» about her nightmarish experience, adding that the ordeal continues as there is no information about what will happen to her car, which remains on Attiki Odos.

She said she was locked in her car for 15 whole hours and she still didn't make it home but to a friendly home in Kantza, where they took her in. They were among the drivers who were forced to abandon their cars in the middle of the night, otherwise the ordeal would have continued for many more hours.

«I had already started to have chills. I don't know how I would have gotten away with it, or if I would have gotten away with it at all. At around 2 a.m., a train came to pick us up. We walked to the Kantza station and jumped over some fences to get on the train. Luckily for me, a fellow journalist called me to see what I was doing because I had posted something on Facebook, and he took me in,» Monica Galanopoulou noted, adding that the train would not take them to a specific destination.

«The rest who got on the train I don't know what happened to them. They told us they wouldn't take us anywhere specific. They would take us beyond – from the airport to Doukissis Plakentias until they see what they will do. Just to be somewhere warmer,» noted the OPEN technician, emphasizing that she understood that it was the train that had been announced to help people on Attiki Odos.

«We were told that there would be a bottle of water and something to eat for everyone. There were so many people. There were small children, elderly people, babies, pets, and everything else you can imagine,» he said.

Theodorikakos: There are serious responsibilities – Attiki Odos will be held accountable for Attiki Odos

For an all-night battle from police officers, firefighters and soldiers to rescue drivers from Attiki Odos, against the backdrop of the Elpis storm, said the Minister of Citizen Protection. Takis Theodorikakos and then spoke about the responsibilities of Attiki Odos.

«Assigning responsibility is another discussion,» said the minister. At some point, we all have to take responsibility. There are very serious responsibilities for the terrible hardship and great dangers that drivers faced—they paid to enter and were trapped for hours—and Caesar's will be given to Caesar and Attiki Odos's to Attiki Odos,"he noted.