What was supposed to be a peaceful Easter holiday turned into a tragedy for the couple who were incinerated in the accident on the Egnatia Highway.

The victims were two Greeks, 72-year-old Kostas Tzionas and 69-year-old Maria Agorastou, who lived in Switzerland and had come to Greece for a few days of rest.

72-year-old Kostas Tzionas, who died on the Egnatia Highway.

69-year-old Maria Agorastou, who died on the Egnatia Highway.

They had just flown into the country and rented a car to travel to their hometown. The car was being driven by the 72-year-old, with his wife in the passenger seat. According to kozan.gr, the couple was originally from villages in the municipality of Servia.

Relatives grew worried when they called and got no answer
The couple came to Greece every year to celebrate Easter with their family, the 72-year-old’s sister-in-law said on Mega’s Live News program.

“They had come on leave to enjoy Easter. They came every year. Both Christmas and Easter. As soon as we heard about the crash on TV, we started calling and calling… but no answer. We thought maybe they were inside a tunnel. Then we got a call from Thessaloniki, from her aunt—the one they had rented the car from—because the police had informed them. They had found the license plate number and that’s how we found out. My husband went to identify them—his brother. They had been abroad for forty years. They worked all their lives, and now they were retired,” she said.

How the accident happened
As protothema.gr previously reported, based on the most recent information from the police regarding the circumstances of the crash, it appears it all began when the driver of the first vehicle attempted to go through the e-pass lane. For an unknown reason, the barrier did not lift, and the driver briefly spoke with a toll booth employee.

During that time, the second vehicle—bearing Swiss plates—arrived at the tolls, with its driver stopping behind the first car without hitting it.

Seconds later, however, a truck with Bulgarian plates and a Ukrainian driver arrived. It slammed into the two vehicles in the e-pass lane, pushing them forward and causing the Swiss-plated car to catch fire, resulting in the deaths of the two elderly passengers inside.

This version of events is supported by initial witness statements, which mentioned that the truck driver was speeding, despite thick foggy conditions in the area.

“I didn’t see anything,” says the Ukrainian truck driver
Around 6 p.m., the 38-year-old truck driver from Ukraine, who was involved in the fatal crash at the Polymylos toll station on the Egnatia Highway, was brought before the prosecutor of Kozani. He claims, “I didn’t see anything, I didn’t realize anything.”

Three of the injured passengers have been discharged from Kozani Hospital. They are two 25-year-old men and a 33-year-old woman who were in one of the vehicles. All had sustained minor injuries.

The two remaining injured individuals, who had been transferred to Veria Hospital, are also expected to be discharged tomorrow. They, too, suffered only minor injuries.