«Due to my workload, I couldn’t make it to the mountains during the holidays» says the 5th member of the mountaineers group, who was saved from the tragedy in the Vardousia Mountains, in Fokida, because he decided not to follow his friends to the mountain. A decision that saved his life… He was the one who called the authorities in Fokida to report that he couldn’t reach his mountaineering friends who were in the Vardousia Mountains. «I called to see what was happening and to wish them a happy new year on this day. There was no signal for many times I called, and then I started the process of informing the relevant search services for the boys» he described to Alpha TV. «They essentially died doing what they loved. At least they died in an activity they wanted to do, like all of us kids who are involved with the mountains. The mountain saves lives 99% of the time and 1% of the time it will take lives. An avalanche is mainly the result of weather conditions».
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Vardousia Mountains: Double mourning for one victim’s family – Lost father and son on same day
Moreover, he reveals that for the family of one mountaineer who lost his life, the mourning is double, as his grandfather also passed away. The father was looking for his mountaineering son to tell him the sad news, without knowing that his son was also dead. «His father and mother called me to go to George’s house to see if something had happened because they couldn’t find him and his grandfather “passed away,” they said, to inform him. And I go to the house and see that the car is missing», a friend told ANT1 TV.
George Domalis was a computer engineer who had his own start-up company and worked remotely as a permanent resident of the mountain village in Fokida, to be close to the snowy slopes he loved. George was friends with Konstantinos Patikas, who had a similar background. A computer programmer from Kozani, he also worked remotely for a multinational company and lived either in Czech Republic or traveled the world with his motorhome. He was a lover of extreme sports, without much mountaineering experience. This Christmas he had planned to be in Spain, but for some reason he ended up at his friend’s house in mountainous Fokida, as relatives reveal.
«Last Friday we went and ate together, he had come for Christmas and told me he would go on a trip to Spain. Now how did he “slip away” and go there? Where did that stupid guide take them, where did he take them up there. The boy didn’t know the area. We lost our boy», said Konstantinos’s uncle. «Konstantinos didn’t have (mountaineering experience), no. He was a very athletic boy, but he had no (contact) with that part. George had more experience and Thanasis had great experience», a friend revealed.
The rescue operation and possible scenarios of the Vardousia Mountains tragedy
The search operation involved 30 firefighters, four EMAK mountaineering teams, while a drone scanned inaccessible areas of the region from the air. It was Friday afternoon when the sad news became known to the families of the missing mountaineers. The exact circumstances of the tragedy have not yet been clarified, whether they were crushed by an avalanche or a piece of snow broke away and swept them along.
The first scenario is that the four friends became disoriented and moved from a difficult path toward the peak. The second scenario is that they didn’t take the necessary precautions to reach the Korakas point, and the third is that weather conditions suddenly deteriorated, they stepped on fresh snow, causing the avalanche that crushed them. «So when you step on this, it detaches from the previous layer because it hasn’t gained cohesion. There wasn’t much snow, but it was packed, it all came away and as they slipped and ended up somewhere, this whole slab fell on them», explained mountaineer Pavlos Tsiantos. «The point where we located the bodies was very inaccessible and the weather conditions were extremely difficult. A large piece of snow must have broken away from under their feet and the avalanche took them, because they were found very close to each other, they were swept for several meters, probably alive, they were trapped and buried in the snow. It’s not ruled out that their death was by suffocation», a rescuer who participated in the recovery of the bodies told MEGA TV.
