One of the three injured PAOK fans from the fatal accident in Lugoj, Romania, who is being treated at Timișoara hospital, spoke to MEGA about the circumstances of the tragedy. Actually, he didn’t speak much, as he clarified that he cannot help regarding the circumstances of the accident and that he doesn’t care about the statements, since he is mourning the deaths of his seven friends, whom he called “brothers.” The man said he wasn’t driving and has no answer for what happened, while he said he learned about the other two survivors by hearing their voices as he was going for an MRI scan. According to him, doctors have left open the possibility of returning to Thessaloniki by plane on Thursday, January 29.
Read: “God protected me”: Driver who narrowly escaped PAOK fans tragedy in Romania speaks out
“I don’t know, I wasn’t driving,” he initially answered about the accident circumstances, emphasizing that he doesn’t care what has been said in statements, as he is mourning his friends: “I’m fine since we’re talking. I don’t know things to tell you for sure so you can have an answer. Right now I’m mourning my friends. Today is mourning. I don’t care what they’ve stated. I can’t know what they’ve stated. A serious accident happened. We are 3 survivors. Me and two others who are in the hospital and 7 dead.”
Fatal Romania accident: “I heard them by chance”
The survivor from the fatal accident in Romania spoke about his lifelong relationship with everyone who traveled in the doomed van. He said he learned by chance that two of his friends are alive: “I’m alone in a room, I don’t know Romanian, I don’t know English well. By chance I heard their voices, as I was passing by on a wheelchair to get an MRI I heard them, at least I know they’re alive. They had a stable night regarding the results and when I asked the doctors today about how my friends are doing. They told me good things. Very likely tomorrow we’ll all leave by plane. I have some fractures, some breaks.”
About the trip and the accident he said: “I remember everything, I didn’t lose consciousness for a moment. I’m not sure how it got stuck there. You must have seen the video. There was time to go right and nothing would have happened. We rented the van from Edessa, the driver went and picked it up from there and ‘loaded’ all of us from Thessaloniki. We were 6 people from Imathia and the rest are from other areas who all met at a common point where we had arranged to meet. We were like brothers, we are very close friends.” The accident occurred on the D96-E70 highway death trap in Lugoj, with the black van failing to turn right and colliding head-on with a truck. It was shortly before noon on Tuesday, January 27, when seven PAOK friends became victims of the road carnage.
