Responses to the causes of the powerful explosion that occurred at midnight on Thursday 4 February at the hotel "Tsamis" in Kastoria, resulting in the complete collapse of the building, is expected to give the preliminary investigation that has already begun by the Investigation Department of the Fire Service of Kastoria.
From the special register of scientists kept at the Kastoria Prosecutor's Office and at the request of the Fire Service, Three experts have already been appointed, which is expected with the research and the conclusion they will draw up, to give answers to the causes that led, not only in the explosion but also in the collapse of the hotel.
At the same time, the Fire Service, with its signal to the Regional Police Directorate of Western Macedonia, requested the assistance of ELAS pyrotechnicians in order to investigate whether there are traces of explosives in the ruins of the building..
Due to the specificity of the incident, a special unit of the explosives disposal department from Thessaloniki will go to Kastoria.
They are looking for optical material from surveillance cameras
The assistance of the Security Department of the Kastoria Police Directorate has also been requested for the existence of visual material from surveillance cameras even from adjacent buildings near the hotel..
What is already known from the assurances of the owner to the competent authorities is that in the hotel facilities gas was used while the supply tanks remain intact in an area outside the building..
The powerful explosion caused a very large shock wave to cause damage to buildings even within a radius of more than 150 meters.
The windows of an adjacent hotel complex were broken while the OTE telephone network cable was cut like a thread from a metal object or glass that was thrown at a distance 60 meters.
Firefighters who examined the area in broad daylight told APE-MPE that the force of the shock wave that followed the explosion was such that some of the hotel curtains were found hanging from nearby trees..
A statement issued by the hotel management stressed that in addition to the competent committee of experts of the fire service that will examine the reasons that led to the complete destruction "we have entrusted the verification of the facts to a competent technical expert".
The hotel "Tsamis", had just been renovated 2010 had 75 beds and five suites and was one of the emblematic tourist complexes of Kastoria.
It operated in the late ‘70s and its existence is linked to the tourist development of the city that became famous in Greece and abroad. It was built near the lake with a great view to the outlying town on the south side of the outlying town.
