Death of an 11-year-old: Critical questions and blame game over the tragedy in Serres

At 4 pm the funeral of the 11-year-old student of the 9th Primary School of Serres, who died tragically yesterday afternoon, from explosion in the boiler room which resulted in a door being ejected and striking him fatally.

All Primary and Secondary schools in Serres are closed today in mourning for the young student who died so unexpectedly, while the 9th Primary School, where he was attending, will remain closed until further notice since the investigations in the school unit must be completed and the area cleaned.

Already, this morning a special expert has been appointed to investigate the exact cause of the boiler room explosion and then issue the relevant conclusion.

The atmosphere is particularly heavy throughout the society of Serres with unanswered critical questions and a maelstrom of responsibilities, while the prosecutor has called for an immediate investigation into the tragic incident. Messages of support are coming in from all over for his family, who moved from Athens to Serres, the mother's place of origin, a few years ago in search of a better quality of life.

The board of directors of the teachers' association of the Regional Unit of Serres, with a very touching announcement, expresses its condolences for the loss of little Vasilis and bids him farewell with verses by Kostis Palamas:

«Today in our city it got dark early. So too in our hearts. In a place that is intertwined with joy and creation, the act of drama that led us to absolute mourning unfolded. We are shocked and devastated. A «why» is drowned out by our uncontrollable sobbing. It is unfair. It is beyond our reach. Our minds go to the parents of little Santa Claus. We sympathize and mourn his unexpected loss. Words cannot convey what we feel. Our good child/ On the journey that the black cavalier takes you/ Take nothing from his hand/ Nothing to take.».

«Ballsack» the responsibilities

Meanwhile, the mayor of Serres Alexandros Chryssadis blames the director of the 9th primary school and the contractor of the project for the tragic incident, which caused the death of the 11-year-old and the injury of two other students and notes that yesterday afternoon he ordered an urgent investigation to find errors or omissions of all parties involved.

It is recalled that speaking yesterday to AP-MPA, a few hours after the tragic incident, the director of the school Nikolaos Tsiotsios claimed that he had never received any documents relating to the design of the project and that he had refused from the outset to upgrade the energy efficiency of the school group. He said he had also requested that any technical work be done on Saturday and not during school hours, however, he said, he was not listened to by anyone involved. He also said that the said geothermal upgrade project had experienced a lot of problems and was late in being completed.

The mayor of Serres argues, however, that from the side of the Municipality had ensured the safety of the project and speaking to RES-MPA stresses that «the contract of the project with the contractor explicitly and categorically emphasized that the technical work will not be done during the operation of the school unit or if they will be done then the consent of either the director or the municipality is required.» This, however, as he points out, was not done as «we did not give any permission and even ignored that the technical crew would be visiting the school».

Indeed, he brings as an example and the 12th primary school in which similar work is carried out there, noting that «the technical crew of the contractor a few hours after the completion of the work at the 9th primary school and long before the explosion, visited the 12th primary school. There the principal did not allow him to enter. He told the technicians to come on Saturday to make the arrangements as specified in their contract.» He further claims that he had no information that the principal of the 9th primary school accepted the crew to enter the school premises and carry out works.

Mr.Chrysadis also claims that the director of the school unit, where the explosion occurred, has not sent any document to him, nor to the technical service, nor to the school committee, expressing his opposition to the implementation of the energy upgrade project and notes that this project in both schools (9th and 12th primary), through NSRF, started in April 2021, however, due to delays in funding, it was extended and has now been completed.