In a absurd chain reaction, where the issue of the fireball is being passed around — quite literally like a hot potato — from one expert to the next, ultimately ending in complete ambiguity, the investigation into the Tempi tragedy has been unfolding over the past 24 hours. This situation, beyond its social and political repercussions, has made the immediate intervention of the judiciary both necessary and urgent.

Successive and unacceptable inconsistencies, along with a tangled web of blame-shifting between Greek and foreign scientists, have shattered any supposed credibility of institutions like EODASAAM (National Organization for the Investigation of Aviation and Railway Accidents and Transport Safety), and universities such as Ghent and Pisa. The public is left more confused than ever about what truly happened on the tragic night of February 28, 2023, in Tempi.

The judicial investigation is now underway, as on Monday, April 7, the Prosecutor of the Supreme Court, Georgia Adeilini, ordered an inquiry into “the conditions under which a conclusion was included in the EODASAAM report on the Tempi case.” The conclusion in question, citing input from the Universities of Ghent and Pisa, identified as a likely cause of the fireball that formed immediately after the train collision, an unknown flammable volatile liquid — weighing at least 2.5 tons — allegedly transported by the freight train, which was unrelated to the trains’ engines or their declared cargo.

In her directive, Ms. Adeilini refers to “prosecutable offenses, such as the undue influence on judicial officials,” especially following the denial by representatives of the Universities of Ghent and Pisa of the conclusions attributed to them in the report.

Moreover, the Prosecutor of the Supreme Court calls for an investigation into the role played in formulating this conclusion by the Committee of Independent Experts for the Families (EDAPO), explicitly naming Kostas Lakafosis, the technical advisor to the families of the Tempi victims.

The catalyst for these latest explosive developments came on the night of Sunday, April 6, when it was revealed that the two researchers from Ghent University were never asked to investigate the Tempi accident and never conducted any simulations on behalf of EODASAAM. In fact, the Flemish university was displeased even by the way its involvement was referenced in the EODASAAM report.

According to an investigation by the information verification organization Hellenic Hoaxes, the only task of the Ghent scientists was to offer opinions on three preliminary simulations regarding the conditions that may have led to the formation of the fireball. These simulations were sent to Ghent by the technical advisor to the victims’ families, Kostas Lakafosis.

It was clarified, however, that the experts from Ghent did not endorse the findings of those simulations — despite the fact that these findings were already included in the report published (in English) by EODASAAM on February 27, 2025.

Simultaneously, the University of Pisa in Italy, through an email to EODASAAM, is demanding amendments to the report’s conclusions, since some of them had not been reviewed or approved by the university. In other words, Pisa is accusing EODASAAM of arbitrarily invoking the university’s name — and its authority. Specifically, Professor Gabriele Landucci requests that all references to the University of Pisa be removed from the Tempi report.

As a result of this dual distancing from the EODASAAM and its report, particularly in the section where the fireball is analyzed, the president of the organization, Christos Papadimitriou, announced that the Organization intends to revise the report, in compliance with the objections of the foreign universities. In the new version, the reference to the possible existence of illegal flammable material would be omitted.

In essence, the disordered retreat of EODASAAM undermines the credibility of the entire report. The report, which spans 178 pages and until a few days ago was considered the most thorough analysis available, at least up to this point, of the accident, is no longer valid. Symbolically, EODASAAM has committed professional suicide.

In the aftermath, and after the expected uproar, a series of messages exchanged between EODASAAM’s president Christos Papadimitriou and Bart Accu, Deputy Director of the European Railway Agency, became public.

From the exchange of emails, it is confirmed that about 10 days before the announcement of the report, Messrs. Papadimitriou and Accu were more or less in agreement to proceed with the publication of the conclusions, even though the conclusions from the foreign universities regarding the origin of the fireball were still pending. In particular, Mr. Accu seems convinced that no further investigation is necessary, as, in his opinion, the fire could not have been caused by the ignition of silicone oils but by some unknown combustible material.

Meanwhile, on Monday evening, in a report by journalist Georgia Lagou, the central news bulletin of Ant1 presented written communication with Bart Merci, a professor at the University of Ghent. In summary, he revealed that Ghent had completed two reports regarding the fireball, which were sent to EODASAAM in January. However, for some unknown reason, EODASAAM did not include Ghent’s reports in the final version of the report.

As part of the same report, Professor Bart Merci confirmed that Ghent did not conduct simulation experiments using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), but instead focused on reviewing, secondarily, the findings of the research conducted in Greece. Moreover, as Professor Merci mentioned in his email to Georgia Lagou, Ghent’s communication link with the Greek side was not directly with EODASAAM, but with Kostas Lakafotis—even though Lakafotis is an independent expert and not affiliated with the Organization.

K. Lakafotis: Insistent on the “flammable material” Kostas Lakafotis remains unwavering in his views, repeating in his recent TV interviews his own theory that the fire that broke out immediately after the collision of the two trains at Tempi on February 28, 2023, could not have been caused by silicone oils.

Instead, Mr. Lakafotis claims (in this case, speaking on Monday, April 7, on Ant1’s “Proino” show with Giorgos Liagas) that “I have spoken about flammable material and I continue to say it. Regarding the fireball, I have said that the upper limit of the material is 3.5-4 tons, and we are doing successive calculations to find the lower limit, the minimum amount that could have created what is seen in the video. Find me even one serious chemical engineer in a Greek university who supports that silicone oils burn. There is not a single one. There are many chemical engineers who say ‘of course, they don’t burn.’ And when you ask someone ‘why don’t you say it publicly?’, they respond ‘I can’t get involved.'”

Kostas Lakafotis, in his capacity as a technical advisor to the families of the victims and an expert, has recently been at the center of intense and multiple criticisms. Not only for the interpretation he initially suggested, mainly concerning the causes that led to the creation of the well-known “fireball,” but also for his scientific and professional competence, as well as his mediation between the Greek researchers of the accident and foreign universities, from which further scientific assistance was requested.

In the same interview on Ant1, Mr. Lakafotis, defending himself, emphasized that “there is no ‘Lakafotis report.’ There are two reports from the EDAPO (Committee for the Investigation of Independent Experts for the Families), which have been submitted to the case file, and these go up to a certain point. The reports have not reached Ghent, and I am being called to explain media leaks that I did not make. All the discussion about Ghent’s report, how many tons were involved, whether Ghent concluded this or that, where did these come from? Did I ever say that? How did these issues arise in the public discussion? I, who am accused of misleading the public, have not signed anything as a public official. I believe something and I say it.”

Regarding the questioning of the EODASAAM report and the decision of its president to remove the mention of the fireball from the document, Kostas Lakafotis believes there is a “political game,” “manipulation,” “political pressure on the universities of Ghent and Pisa,” “time management,” “timing,” and that “someone has orchestrated all of this,” among other things.

Maria Karystianou aligns with Kostas Lakafotis

At 21:07 on Monday, April 7, Maria Karystianou, the mother of a victim of the tragedy and a key figure in initiating anti-government protests over the Tempi incident, made a public intervention on social media, openly supporting Kostas Lakafotis. In her lengthy post, with her characteristic sharp tone, Maria Karystianou attacks, once again, both the government and the Prosecutor of the Supreme Court, Mrs. Georgia Adeilini.

Among other things, and after briefly repeating previous accusations, Mrs. Karystianou once again criticizes Mrs. Adeilini, this time because she ordered a preliminary investigation into improper influence over judicial officials. According to Maria Karystianou, “the only influence that ultimately exists is the order from the Prosecutor’s Office of the Supreme Court itself, which inspires fear in anyone who dares to express a scientific opinion contrary to the government’s narrative.”