The investigation conducted by public administration officials on the death of a 13-year-old at a fun fair in Elliniko, southern Athens, Greece has revealed serious shortfalls onthe local municipality’s part, which was found to have rented out the site illegally.
On Monday, the findings of the investigation were presented to the Greek Administrative Reform Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who described them as “disheartening.”
“The fairground should never have operated and that is something that should concern us all,” he stated, adding that the improvement of the institutional framework concerning child play areas is as important as the attribution of responsibility for the tragic accident at Elliniko.
The probe revealed that the Elliniko Municipality had rented the site to a company without an operating license and which was using an area of 2,450 square meters instead of the 700 square meters it had paid to rent. Investigation also showed that local authorities did not conduct any inspections at the funfair, which lacked basic safety measures.
A 13-year-old boy was killed and his 9-year-old sister was seriously injured when strong winds blew a water roller on the site into the air. The Greek manager of the fairground, an Italian man who rented him equipment and two Bangladeshi workers face are being accused of the boy’s death, while Elliniko Mayor Christos Kortzidis has been called to testify.
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