The ambulance arrived at the scene and rushed the young man in critical condition to the Kassandreia Health Center, but unfortunately, he couldn’t be saved. The 58-year-old manager of the amusement park has been arrested, while the operator of the ride is still at large.
According to initial reports, the 19-year-old and his brother were on a ride that malfunctioned, causing him to fall and sustain severe injuries. Their other brother witnessed the entire incident.
The brother of the victim described the terrifying moments, stating, “We got on the ride together. Just before it started, the operator changed our seats and said he was going to ‘push it hard.’ At first, the ride was stable, but then it started going very fast. Suddenly, I saw our seat detaching. I looked at my brother and said, ‘Giannis, the seat is coming loose.’ He looked at me, unable to say anything, and then he disappeared. He was thrown into the air due to the high speed and died. Our mother and other brother were watching below, screaming. They saw him die. The operator managed to escape while the ride was still in motion, and I had to hold onto a metal bar to save myself. Others stopped the ride; otherwise, I might have died too.”
The area has been cordoned off for an investigation into the legality of the amusement park’s operations and the safety of the ride. A preliminary investigation is being conducted by the Kassandreia Police Department.
The grandmother of the victim also spoke, expressing her heartbreak: “It’s so unfair what happened to our family. Our child was lost unfairly. My son, the boy’s father, cried all the way from Athens to Chalkidiki, unable to believe that his child had died. Giannis was supposed to start flight school in a few days, and they had even prepared a uniform for him, but fate has destroyed us all.”