Galery

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Two students, aged 22 and 21, died in their sleep due to inhalation of carbon dioxide produced from the burning of wood in a makeshift stove. Three more of their friends are in critical condition in the intensive care ward of the university hospital in the city of Larissa. Nikos Papahronis is from Chalcis and studied accounting at the college of Larissa. Savvas Papadopoulos from Chania, Crete, was his friend and roommate and studied infrastructure projects at the same establishment as reported by To Vima.

The young people were living in lodgings in the city rather than on the campus. According to the information presented by different Greek media, the landlady had suggested at the beginning of the winter season that they use heating fuel, which had to be ordered in the middle of October. The boys refused due to the increased fuel prices and assured her that they had found an alternative way to heat the flat in the cold months. At first, they used electricity for heating and then, they themselves made a stove from a boiler they had cut in two and burned wood logs in it. The boys were unaware that the free emission of carbon dioxide would be fatal for them. There is no information on whether their parents or the landlady knew about the makeshift stove.

The other three youths were also students in the city. They went to stay overnight with their friends. According to Skai TV, the water in the lodgingd of one of the young victims had been cut off due to unpaid bills. A girlfriend of the boys found them after the parents of one of the young men from Crete failed to connect with their son on his cell phone. The girl went to the lodgings of her friends to see how they were. After much ringing, she asked the landlady to open the door of the flat with her key. They found the five youths inside the flat but it was already late for two of them. Two of the boys were found dead.

"What happened to our students is a tragedy," the head of the college in Larissa George Stoulis told To Vima. He states that many parents can no longer see their children through university. The teachers who know the victims say they were unaware of the extent of the financial difficulties experienced by their students.

The youths’ death has caused a serious political response. According to the head of the college, the loss of the young people’s lives is a result of the economic crisis in Greece. The opposition SYRIZA party has issued a statement, which says that the tragic accident was the result of the forcible imposition of the fiscal consolidation, which has led to the drastic impoverishment of the people. "We express our condolences to the families of the children who unjustly lost their lives," reads the official statement.