An unthinkable incident occurred at midnight on Monday (August 19) in Pefkohori, Kassandra municipality, Halkidiki, with a 19-year-old man losing his life while having fun in an amusement park.
Initially, the 19-year-old was very seriously injured and was taken to the Kassandrea Health Center in a critical condition, when the toy (spinning chairs) he was riding on broke. A little while later it ended.
Developments in the case of the death of the 19-year-old in an amusement park in Pefkohori, Halkidiki
After the tragic incident, questions are raised about how the amusement park in Halkidiki was operating, where a 19-year-old man died tragically.
The 21-year-old operator of the game was delivered to Kilkis
The amusement park was not licensed
The fact that the amusement park was not licensed was mentioned by the mayor of Kassandra Halkidiki, Anastasia Chalkia, speaking about the tragic incident in Pefkohori.
Anastasia Chalkia underlined (First Program) that the operating license for amusement parks is not given by the municipality but “must have its machines certified and licensed by the Ministry of Development and make a notification to notifybusiness”.
He pointed out that in this particular case this notification had not been made and the municipality had already proceeded with the procedure of imposing a fine.
He continued by saying that “the Ministry of Development checks the certifications. From there, the machines get permits. How is the municipality to know if the machine is good or not, if it has the necessary specifications? They get ISO certifications, Haccp, there are some procedures. The municipality simply sees if the notification has been uploaded. This particular notification has not been uploaded, so we were in the process of monetary sanctions. It’s a 2022 CPA, which says exactly what responsibilities each municipality has,” he said characteristically.
As soon as the fines come in, added Anastasia Halkia, then the businessman will be summoned for an explanation and the premises will be sealed.
“The point is that these must be certified. What mechanism should the municipality have to check if these machines were certified? The Ministry of Development checks whether the specifications of the KYA are met”, he asserted.
The fatal game in which the 19-year-old lost his life
Response of the Ministry of Development to the municipality
Responding to the mayor’s statements, the Ministry of Development “washes its hands” and points to the municipality as being responsible for “issuing permits and checking compliance with the operating requirements of amusement parks”.
In detail, it states:
“Regarding the statements of the Mayor of Kassandra regarding the accident that took place on 08/19/2024 in an amusement park, the following are mentioned:
According to article 110 of Law 4442/2016, the only competent authority for the implementation of the legal framework regarding the granting of permits and the control of compliance with the operating requirements of amusement parks is the Municipality in whose territorial jurisdiction the activity is carried out, and in this particular case the Municipality of Kassandra.
The imposition of shutdown and fines for violation of the relevant legislation is also done by decision of the competent body of the relevant municipality, in the specific case of the Municipality of Kassandra”.
Investigation of disciplinary responsibilities
The Ministry of the Interior is requesting an immediate investigation of disciplinary responsibilities for the accident shortly after the response of the Ministry of Development. The Ministry of Internal Affairs asks the Secretary of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia-Thrace to immediately investigate any disciplinary responsibilities of the elected officials.
Machine operator surrendered
In the meantime, the 21-year-old operator of the amusement park was handed over to the Kilkis police station.
According to information from in, the 21-year-old is being taken to the Kassandra police station, where the relevant case file is being prepared for the fatal incident. He is then expected to be taken to the public prosecutor Polygyros.
At the same time, it is noted that a case of negligent homicide has been filed against the 58-year-old owner of the amusement park in Pefkohori.
The fatal amusement park game
It is recalled that the unfortunate 19-year-old lost his life when the rotating chair detached from the installation and the young man was hurled from his sitting position.
The 19-year-old was at the game with his younger brother when they realized their seat was coming off. The little brother managed to hold on to the irons. The big one, however, unfortunately didn’t make it and ended up on the ground and was seriously injured.
An EKAV ambulance rushed to the amusement park, picked up the 19-year-old and took him to the Kassandra Health Center, but it was already too late.
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