# Tempi road accident disaster

The Tempi road accident disaster was on April 13, 2003, shortly before 19:30, an intercity bus carrying 49 students and 3 accompanying teachers from the General Lyceum of Makrochori, Imathia, returning from a school trip to Athens, collided, at the 388 km, in Tempi, head-on with a truck carrying timber from Provatonas, Evros.
The driver of the truck lost control and found himself in the oncoming traffic. Although the bus driver managed to avoid a direct head-on collision, the truck was carrying a trailer carrying sheets of chipboard, which were released from the collision and entered the bus, cutting its entire left side in two. The result of the collision, but mainly the movement of the truck's trailer load, was that 21 students lost their lives, 4 were seriously injured and hospitalized in intensive care, and the rest were slightly injured.
It is the deadliest traffic accident in the history of Greece. The tragedy changed the legislation regarding fatal traffic accidents, the traffic of heavy and towed vehicles, and the hours and days of their traffic.

## Causes

The main causes of the accident have been recorded as the fatigue of the driver, who was driving more than the permitted hours, the wear of the truck's tires, the incorrect fastening of the load, which, according to the experts' findings, was five tons more than the permitted one, and finally the age of the bus that transported the students, which should have been withdrawn from traffic. Possibly the two vehicles were moving at a speed exceeding the permitted one, as they had removed the speed limit from their tachographs.
At that time, in a large percentage of the Athens - Thessaloniki road network there was no dividing strip between the traffic lanes, and in fact in the Tempi Valley, due to the narrow and difficult morphology of the area, the width of the road became narrower, with only one traffic lane per direction. Today, the site of the accident, where there is a memorial structure, is located on the old Athens - Thessaloniki national road, as the work of bypassing the dangerous point was completed with the delivery of the Tempi tunnel in April 2017.

## Trial

The trial began in March 2005 with defense counsel Alexis Kougias and was practically completed in September 2010 at the Supreme Court. The six convicted by the decision of the Mixed Assured Court of Larissa had submitted an appeal to the Supreme Court, which was ultimately rejected.
The results of the court proceedings were the acquittal of the bus driver, the sentencing of the truck driver Dimitris Dolas to 15 years in prison, the sentencing of the co-owners of the truck F. Kavelidis and An. Kameas to 14 years and 11 years in prison respectively, the sentencing of the general manager of the company "Akritas S.A.", Dimitris Hambouris, to four years in prison, the sentencing of the manager of the "Novopan" factory, Pol. Dardambounis to four years in prison and the factory shift supervisor M. Alexakis to 3 years in prison.
Furthermore, the civil damages were set by the first instance court at 10 million euros in June 2005, which was reduced to 8.5 million euros when the case was closed at the Supreme Court.

## The names of the deceased

* Evangelia Gatou – Age 16
* Anastasia Pavlidou – Age 16
* Peristera Ousta – Age 16
* Georgia Trapezanli – Age 16
* Stavros Kanellopoulos – Age 15
* Ηlias Tsoleridis – Age 16
* Panagiotis Mouratidis – Age 16
* Andreas Athanasiadis – Age 16
* Christina Stamatellou – Age 16
* Ioannis Triantafyllidis – Age 16
* Vasileios Papadopoulos – Age 16
* Evanthia Psalida – Age 16
* Dimitrios Kosmidis – Age 15
* Konstantinos Thalalaios – Age 16
* Gesthimani Stafylidou – Age 16
* Savvas Panagiotidis – Age 16
* Athanasios Markantaras – Age 16
* Georgos Mitskas – Age 16
* Ioanna Kastidou – Age 16
* Dimitrios Sigas – Age 16
* Olga Angelina – Age 15
At the site of the accident, there is an octagonal marble monument which bears the photographs of the 21 children, in the middle it says the date "April 13, 2003" and has a flower on top. Below the monument, the following inscription is inscribed: "At this point, under the responsibility of the State and on the altar of profit, the 21 students of the 1st Grade of the Lyceum of Makrochori, Imathia, were sacrificed".
Also, 750 meters above the accident site, there is an area that is also used for outdoor parking, which has a large plaque with the names of the 21 children and below it reads "They left on April 13, 2003". At this specific point, a Trisagion is held every April 13 in their memory.
Since 2016, every year, close to the anniversary of the accident, a running race has been held in Makrochori, with the participation of people of all ages from all over Greece (While people from other countries, such as Albania and Bulgaria, has also participated), which is called "Running of 21 Students", where participants are given commemorative medals and prizes. One of the village squares was renamed "Square of 21 Students".
In 2010, the Municipal Library of Makrochori was inaugurated, which is dedicated to the memory of the 21 lost children.