Agia Eirini Square in central Athens turned into a scene of horror on Saturday when a large tree collapsed suddenly, seriously injuring civilians. A woman was found bloodied on the ground and rushed to hospital, where she required surgery to address the severe bleeding she suffered.
Athens tree collapse: “I lost consciousness, again and again”
Christina, the woman struck by the fallen tree, described with difficulty the nightmarish moments. As she explained, the incident happened just as she had sat down with her daughter at the café. “We had just managed to sit down, we had taken the menu and the next thing I remember is being in the ambulance, being put on the stretcher with the paramedic talking to me,” she said.
She revealed that she suffered a head injury requiring multiple stitches. “I wasn’t conscious, I kept losing consciousness and coming back. I lost a lot of blood and injured my shoulder too. They had to take me to surgery because I was fainting and vomiting,” she emphasized. Her testimony captures the severity of the injury and the terror experienced by her and her family.
“The tree was rotten, we had notified the municipality”
Eyewitnesses described scenes of panic, with screams, blood and injured people being rushed away. An employee at a nearby shop emphasized that the tree had shown signs of danger long before. “As I was taking an order, I heard a sound and the tree fell on the umbrella. I escaped at the last moment. Five minutes later another branch fell at the shop next door and hit two people,” he said.
He claimed that the tree was rotten and that local businesses had repeatedly informed Athens Municipality. “We had said the tree was dangerous, but they didn’t take responsibility. Now that there were injuries, they rushed to clean it up. The municipality must take responsibility,” he declared angrily.
Municipality attributes incident to strong winds
For his part, the deputy mayor who arrived at the scene maintained that the tree had been inspected and was in good condition. According to him, the collapse was caused by strong winds hitting the city. Athens Municipality issued a statement attributing the tree falls to category 3 weather phenomena.
The announcement stated that three trees collapsed at different locations: at Agia Eirini Square, on Theotokopoulos Street, and on Knossos Street. At Agia Eirini two citizens were injured, while on Theotokopoulos Street vehicle damage was recorded.
Additionally, the municipality called on citizens to avoid parking under trees and follow Civil Protection guidelines.
“The tree had been inspected 20 days ago”
The Parks and Urban Wildlife Department provided additional details, insisting that the fallen trees had been recently inspected and found to be in good phytosanitary condition. For the Agia Eirini tree specifically, it was noted that it had been inspected 20 days earlier, while there had been previous vandalism to a branch that was removed.
The announcement concluded that the tree showed no signs of danger and the collapse is attributed exclusively to the strong winds that hit the area.
Responsibility and questions
The incident has sparked intense controversy. On one side, residents and business owners speak of a rotten tree and municipal negligence, while on the other, city authorities attribute everything to extreme weather phenomena. Meanwhile, the image of the woman who ended up bloodied in surgery, having lost significant blood, casts a heavy shadow of responsibility over the city.
