The C-130 carrying the members of the Greek humanitarian aid team injured in the horrific accident in Libya on Sunday afternoon landed at the Elefsina airfield shortly before 7 a.m. Seven people were killed in the accident, five of them Greeks (three military personnel and two interpreters). In fact, a C-27 is expected to arrive in Greece in the coming hours, carrying the five bodies.
Information was initially confusing: the General Staff of the National Defence Staff – which initially said there were only slightly injured – later announced that three members of the Greek mission had died and two were missing. However, information quoted by international media from Libya said that four people had been killed and seven wounded, while the latest update put the death toll at five.
Last night, the Minister of Health of the government of eastern Libya announced that, as a result of what he described as a ‘horrific’ road accident, 15 Greek soldiers were injured, 7 of them seriously. Two Libyans, reportedly translators on board the bus, are also in a critical condition.
Meanwhile, the circumstances under which the horrific accident took place are yet to be determined. We only know that the bus in which the delegation of 19 Greek soldiers, nurses and rescuers carrying humanitarian aid (medicine, health supplies and food) for those affected by the bad weather Daniel in Derna was travelling in collided head-on with a truck. The accident occurred on the local Marawa road when the truck was – under unclear circumstances – in oncoming traffic. Both vehicles were engulfed in flames after the fierce collision.