A new testimony of bravery during the catastrophe that hit the resort of Mati, east of Athens on Monday has come into light.
Author Elisavet Papadopoulou described in a Facebook post how she and a female friend were enjoying her daughter’s birthday party with six other 11-year old girls at a sea-side hotel near Mati.
She says the children were eating cake, singing and playing until she smelled the smoke approaching.
The following is a rough translation of the Facebook post:
When the fire started encircling the hotel, we grabbed the kids and jumped into the sea.
We took a head count to confirm that we didn’t leave anyone behind as the kids were screaming and crying.
They kept asking us if they were about to die. We kept shouting at them to continue swimming.
The smoke coming from the shore was thick and the sun was gone. It was dark and nobody knew if there was enough oxygen to breathe.
We kept on swimming to find someplace where there was less smoke, but we were also careful not to get too far away from the coast.
We reached a point where nearly two hundred people were scattered in the water and on the rocks.
We could hear the explosions as cars were being blown up. The smoke was black and thick but the strong wind was scattering it before it could choke us.
I thought that as long as the wind continued, we had hopes of surviving.
We reached a rock, where we all took a breather and sang for my daughter: ‘Happy Birthday dear Eva…’
Surreal.
Then the smoke engulfed us again. We kept on swimming, the kids kept asking if they will die.
We spent four hours in the water. At around 10 pm an inflatable boat approached with diving instructors from a private school searching for survivors.
They were our saviors. I am only embarrassed that I can’t remember the name of the diving school to thank them all face to face, now that the nightmare is over.
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