Shocking testimonies emerge from close relatives and surviving workers of the “Violanta” factory in Trikala, where a powerful explosion followed by a massive fire occurred in the early hours of Monday (26/01), killing five women. The injured employees and their relatives describe to Live News the moments of terror and panic that prevailed when everything in the wing where the devastating explosion occurred began burning at extremely high temperatures.
Read: “Violanta” factory fire in Trikala: “I heard a loud noise like a bomb exploded,” says local resident (Video)
“It was four minutes to [the hour]. The entire area heard the explosion. It was so loud that it was heard everywhere. I saw the fire next door, the fire and the ‘bang’ when they fell down, and fortunately they didn’t hit their heads and lose consciousness and be unable to get out,” said the mother of an employee.
According to her description, her daughter was saved by a miracle. Normally, as the mother says, she would have been at the spot where the five victims of the tragedy were standing.
“My daughter would have been at that post. They changed posts because two women were absent. There were three men and four women at the spot where my daughter was. And the five women were a few meters further away. She was at the location, just not at the exact spot where the five women burned.”
Moreover, her child’s luck was double, as she was not only not near the five women who were killed, but after the explosion she found herself in a location that provided her protection.
“Suddenly, these women were very close to the spot where the floor opened up, and the flame came up with it. Everyone fell to the floor. This hole opened and the women who were around it fell into the basement. With the explosion and the shaking they fell down and materials fell on top of them. The panels fell and crushed them.”
“She would have been killed if she was a few meters away”
“They just tried to get out quickly and were saved. But at that ‘bang’ over there, nothing remained. If they had been a few meters further away, they would have all been killed. They would have all burned,” says the mother of an employee.
“My daughter is in shock”
The mother of another survivor speaks to Mega’s show about how her daughter is after what happened and what she witnessed. As she says, she is still in shock and she estimates that she will need to be examined by a psychologist.
“This was the third trauma for me in my life. My husband left in 2007 from galloping [cancer] in 22 days, just as I’m doing the memorial service for my husband’s anniversary, I lost my daughter in a car accident at 24, and now this was the third thing that happened to me. My daughter is in shock, she doesn’t remember, she has bumps on the back of her head, her nose is bleeding, they put gauze on her, she couldn’t sleep at all yesterday. Her chest hurts in front, she had CT scans and such but she can’t move at all. It hurts her but she’s in shock,” declares the employee’s mother.
And she continues: “She wasn’t outside, they were all inside, the 4 women were together on the line. The one they found today was at the chocolate [section] and the other three were together in there, and then in two minutes they would have changed so those 3 would go there and the others would go back, for 2 minutes. It’s a big shock, we can’t recover. She has a small child, 5 years old, she has a daughter studying in Volos, it’s her second year of studies. She’s alone with her children, no one helps her, whatever I can help her with and herself. When she told me, I was in shock, I came out to the yard and said where can I express my pain, I have no more tears, my tears have dried up now. My daughter needs support from a psychologist.”
“I will light a candle for my mother’s salvation”
The daughter of a third employee who was saved has realized that her mother is alive because she happened to be near the exit.
“An explosion happened, the lights went out and then she fell down, she doesn’t remember very well and she remembers hearing Elena. My mother was closer to the exit and they had to get past a panel to be able to exit the factory. Because from the explosion, they had conveyor belts in front, because they were wrapping the cookies, collecting them and had to leave, to get past them,” she said specifically.
It’s worth noting that her mother had visual contact with the 5 women who were killed during the shift.
“They weren’t gathered together, they were somewhat in a line. My mother was at one spot, the other two were closer and further down were the other girls who were lost, further inside. She told me the explosion was heard and then everything went out, there were no lights or anything.”
After the explosion, one person, as her mother told her, was trying to help another. Every moment seemed like an eternity for the trapped employees.
“They called to them and they came out and helped each other. It was the boys from the factory, who have more responsible positions somehow and they were towards the outside. They opened the door for them afterwards and they got out, they called to them,” she added.
Amid the pain for the loss of their colleagues, the injured employees are waiting to learn the causes of the deadly explosion.
“She has some minor injuries only. I will light a candle, not just a simple one. She told me they will surely say it was gas, that it smelled sometimes, yesterday it didn’t smell,” said the daughter of the survivor, commenting on the incident.
“Nothing smelled,” factory worker maintains
However, a factory employee, speaking to Live News about the factory, says it was modern and no one expected something like this to happen. In fact, she mentions they hadn’t smelled anything, otherwise they would have reported a leak.
“Nothing smelled, if we had realized it we would have told the supervisors, nothing smelled, we didn’t realize anything and that’s why we worked comfortably. Nothing smelled. The safety measures, everything, the fire safety though was… The factory was more perfect, it’s impossible kids. More perfect… Modern factory, perfect machinery, that’s why no one can explain it, because we worked inside. Cleanliness? Not just clean, the factory was spotless. From all sides, everywhere, everywhere, from the machines, the detections? There were always checks and recent ones, always, always, there wasn’t. I don’t think there was any employee who went to make any complaint, anonymous or named and works at ‘Violanta’,” emphasized the factory employee.
The employee continues saying that the tragedy victims had attended the cake cutting ceremony.
“It was my team, my team, my girls. I would have been there with them too, if I hadn’t had leave, I would have been there. Yes, yes with the girls (we had gone to the cutting), we took photos, danced, laughed, had a great time, perfect. We danced with our bosses, all together, we had a perfect, perfect time. What that was, no one can explain. We left, I to my house, the girls to their houses, slept a little, to go at night 23.30 to their work. What happened from there on, no one knows,” she said specifically.
Six workers were transferred injured to hospital. They were saved, as eyewitnesses of the tragedy repeat, those who had gone out for break or those who were standing near the exit of the factory wing.
Description from a worker who was saved
“I shouted to them get out and we managed to get out. I was inside but for 30 seconds I wasn’t at the spot where the explosion happened where the five girls were. There was neither flour in the basement nor sugar because I hear various things. It was an old basement. The four women were at close distance due to their posts. The girl who was found as the fifth was about fifteen meters away at another post. The explosion happened at the spot where the girls were. They say gas accumulated to cause such… Lately nothing smelled to us. Opinions differ. Some girls smelled it, others smelled it from the bathroom. It didn’t come to my attention, days before I smelled it but it wasn’t so intense,” says one of the workers who was saved from the deadly explosion.
