No less than four traffic fatalities in two separate instances were reported in the greater Athens area overnight, with all of the victims tragically identified as young adults.
Road fatalities in Greece over the period have appeared to surge, with authorities pressured to step up traffic patrols and crack down on violators.
In the first instance, a single-car accident occurred at roughly 11 p.m. on Tuesday along a coastal boulevard when a south-bound SUV carrying four occupants first crashed into a palm tree in a median and then into a lighting pole. The impact split the vehicle in two, with the driver and co-driver, a man and woman aged 20, perishing. Two occupants in the back seat were pulled out injured.
Hours later a rider and his back-seat passenger perished when their motorcycle crashed near Omonia square in central Athens. Both men, 26, were reportedly not wearing helmets.
High speed and failure to control both vehicles is the initial cause of the fatal accidents.
