Five members of the Greek humanitarian aid mission dead and 13 injured
At a time when the country is mourning the tragic death of the five members of the Greek humanitarian aid mission in Libya, the questions about the circumstances in which they lost their lives are seeking an answer.
The scenarios about what really happened started to flare up a few hours after the fatal traffic accident, when the Greek Military Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spoke of a traffic accident with (slight) injuries and a little later international media were talking about dead members of the Greek mission.
The National Intelligence Service of Greece is said to have also investigated the suicide mission scenario, but this has not been confirmed.
So far, the Greek authorities have provided a first insight into the traffic accident, however, when the investigations of the Libyan authorities are completed, more questions will be answered about the exact circumstances of the collision.
Since 2011, the wider region of Libya and Derka has been controlled by ISIS and no one can prejudge the future of the investigation.
The authorities will also look at the bus in which the Greek delegation was traveling and it exploded.
In the back of the bus after the explosion there are some very large holes, their origin is being investigated.
It should be investigated whether the correct procedure was followed when it is a 'tampered' bus and the auxiliary tank had a capacity of 200 liters of petrol.
So far, 13 injured people are in Greece and one seriously injured person who cannot be transported. Ten people are hospitalized in the 401 Military hospital and 2 people in the Naval Hospital.
No one's life is in danger, while 3 people are facing serious problems. This is the Colonel who during the collision was thrown from the windshield together with the driver and has multiple wounds on his body, the most serious being the pelvis, as well as a captain and a military doctor who have burns on their face and body.
Tragedy in Libya: The area of the traffic accident is dominated by ISIS fighters
The Brigadier General and defense analyst, Panagiotis Theodorakidis, spoke to "Koionias Ora MEGA TV" about the accident in Libya with the Greek mission but also about the procedures followed during the transition of a mission to a region.
"The design, it is a design that in any case is not suitable for the transfer of humanitarian aid, movement and any contact with Libya in which there is no dividing line between civil and enemy forces, things are mixed up. When you have to travel a distance of 300 km from the airport, you have done 160 km because the accident happened on a bad road with damages. It is a road at least as a road surface and it is dangerous, so all possibilities are open. In this sense, the organization of the mission should have taken into account the natural hazards and operational threats," he initially said.
"This mission was of the type of humanitarian aid inside the country, in an affected area. It is not the Thessalian plain where they went. At the expense of the operational planning was the visibility and the communication that was given because we saw people from the Special Forces together with people from the Health Department. Special Forces people guard and secure the material which is very expensive and valuable. Someone should know where he's going. There should not have been these photos, because when there are people with Special Forces insignia in photos, the Turkish factor that has prevailed in Libya, has all possibilities open, how this mission will approach and how it will make the mission impossible not even pass through Libyan airspace", added Mr. Theodorakidis.
On the organization of the mission, “Staffs organize these missions which show a lack of information because we don't know who we are dealing with. No one can guarantee anything in the now Turkish-controlled Libya. We did not examine the bus that the mission entered. No threat identification and risk assessment was done. The accompanying items of the mission were not under the control of the Greek mission. Special Forces people who photographed them were together and there were no communications. They had to be split up, and security covering the Medics with other vehicles and design. It's like we went on a trip."
