Halkidiki battered by powerful storm: 6 dead, 100 injured

Halkidiki battered by powerful storm: 6 dead, 100 injured

According to the first police findings, six people lost their lives in a violent storm.

Two elderly Czech nationals were killed when strong winds swept away their travel trailer in Halkidiki, police said.

The Romanian woman and her child were killed when the roof of a restaurant collapsed at Nea Plagia, officials say, while the Russian man and his son were killed by a falling tree near their hotel in the seaside resort of Potidea.

A state of emergency was declared in Halkidiki and Greece's newly appointed citizens' protection minister is due to visit this morning.

Athansios Kaltsas, director of the Nea Moudania Medical Centre, said: "It is the first time in my 25-year career that I have lived through something like this. It was so abrupt, and so sudden."

Dragana Glisic, Serbian Consul in Thessaloniki says that a 13-year-old girl from Serbia was slightly injured, as they were informed from a General Hospital Gennimatas in Thessaloniki, while other six Serbian tourists were admitted to a hospital in Nea Moudania, where 80 tourist of diverse nationalities were also admitted.

"Greek firefighters, army and civil protection service squads were deployed, while new minister of civil protection Mihalis Hrisohoidis visited Nea Moudania today", Glisic concluded.