A naval flare, which had probably expired, caused the fatal injury of 33-year-old Manolis from Agios Nikolaos who died on Sunday night (17/3) during Carnival events.

Police investigations are focusing on the exact cause of the incident that plunged the 33-year-old’s family into mourning and shook his town in Crete.

Two people who were with the victim were arrested by the authorities but were later released.

The 33-year-old Manolis Kritsotakis was the owner of a bakery in the centre of Agios Nikolaos.

His acquaintances speak of an active, young businessman who was a pleasant person.

This is the second tragedy for his family, as they had lost their daughter at a young age who had chronic health problems. He had previously been injured by a flare to the legs.

The 33-year-old was preparing to get married, neakriti.gr reported.

How the tragic incident happened

The victim along with his partner and two friends were around 23:00 on Sunday in the pedestrian area around the lake of Agios Nikolaos.

After watching the carnival events, the group went to the main pedestrian street of the town for entertainment.

When the victim attempted to fire a naval flare, it exploded and lodged in his body. It is possible that he accidentally pointed it at himself, local media reported, to see why it did not detonate, a move that proved fatal.

A family friend of the 33-year-old, speaking to the Star, described what happened on the fateful night.

“He had lit [the flare], he was holding it in his hand and spinning it around and at some point it exploded and a section went off and stabbed him in the ribs. The guy was hit in the liver. He didn’t have time to say anything,” he said.

He added: “My son was right next to him. He was hanging out with Manolis, they are friends are brotherly friends…When he heard the explosion he thought he was hit, imagine we heard the bang 300 meters away.”

Police sources cited by creta24.gr say that the group of young people had fired about 20 flares before the fatality happened. The police officers even recovered 10 detonated flares from the area.

The explosion caused the 33-year-old man severe injuries to his abdomen. An ambulance immediately took him to the hospital while he was conscious.

Doctors intubated him and performed surgery. They fought to keep him alive, however he died an hour later.

The mother of the 33-year-old in shock told protothema.gr that the wound to her son’s liver was fatal.

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“He was at the carnival the child, the carnival ended and they went somewhere with friends. No one knows what happened and injured Manolis. He went to the hospital alive and by the time I got there he was in surgery. He had been hit in the liver, his liver was shattered by the flare,” he describes.

There was no surgeon on duty at Agios Nikolaos hospital on Sunday night, cretapost reported. He was operated on by the director of the surgical clinic, who came immediately to the hospital, and two gynecologists, as well as a resident surgeon from the hospital of Ierapetra.

An investigation into the causes

A police autopsy at the scene of the tragedy resulted in the seizure of 10 flares. The two friends who were with Manolis were arrested as, according to the police, the possession and use of flares is illegal. They were later released.

The focus of investigations is the question of who was holding the fatal flare.

Of the two men arrested, one handed over to authorities the flare that exploded on his friend, as well as the rest of the batch he had allegedly purchased. The batch was found to contain expired flares, while the scenario that the fatal flare was also expired is being considered.

The funeral of the 33-year-old will be held on Wednesday (20/3) at 3pm at the Church of Panagia Evangelistria.