Chaotic situation in Istanbul and Athens, stuck in the snow


Heavy snowfall disrupted daily life in Athens on Tuesday and paralyzed air traffic at Istanbul airport, one of the busiest in Europe.

Day off, traffic disrupted, electricity cut: heavy snowfall disrupted daily life in Athens on Tuesday and paralyzed air traffic at Istanbul airport, one of the busiest in Europe. While three flights were allowed to land in Istanbul on Tuesday morning, the situation remained chaotic at the airport in the Turkish megalopolis, where many exasperated tourists, stranded inside the terminals, were waiting for their planes, according to a photographer from the AFP.

Some shout “a hotel, a hotel!” to claim accommodation after a night spent on the frozen ground. Others did not take off, unable to smoke in particular, stuck since the day before behind the security gates. “Only one of the three runways is now open to traffic,” an airport official told AFP.

Turkey’s main airline, Turkish Airlines, announced that its flights from Istanbul would not resume until midnight on Tuesday but its passengers complained that they were not kept informed. Images shared on social networks showed passengers sleeping on armchairs or on the ground in the terminals.

Non-working days

In Athens, the paralysis of the road network, covered with a thick white coat, in particular on the Attiki Odos motorway ring road, forced the Greek government to decree two days off Tuesday and Wednesday. All public and private services have been suspended in Attica, the Athens region, and on some snowy islands, except for essential services.

Tuesday was declared a holiday also in several Turkish provinces. “Athens is not used to such a volume of snow,” Alexia, a 50-year-old from Neo Psychiko, a northern district of the Greek capital, told AFP.

In the streets of Athens, the traffic of buses and trolleys is at a standstill. It is impossible to move, the roads remain cluttered with piles of snow, broken tree branches and cars broken down or abandoned by their occupants.

3,500 motorists trapped

On the toll ring road that encircles Athens and serves the airport, “3,500 motorists” had to be evacuated overnight after being trapped by “exceptional” snowfall, the Greek Minister of Civil Protection and Development reported on Tuesday. Climate change, Christos Stylianides.

Blankets, food, water bottles were distributed to motorists and many of them had to abandon their vehicles on the snow-covered road as the temperature fell below zero.

Some furious motorists called radio stations to criticize the government and the ring road company for “this chaos”. On Twitter, the #AttikiOdos hashtag exploded.

Christos Stylianides “apologized” for the incidents on the ring road but referred the responsibility to the management company which “failed to leave this busy axis open”.

Attiki Odos’ company also apologized for these “unpublished incidents” but stressed that the problems were due “either to vehicle breakdowns or to the lack of experience of motorists, some of whom were afraid”.

Under pressure from the government, it promised “2,000 euros” in damages per car stuck on the highway it manages.

“It’s shame”

The Athens public prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation to seek responsibility for the “disturbances and obstruction of traffic”, according to a judicial source.

The current was cut in several corners of Attica.

“I haven’t had electricity since last night (Monday), it’s a shame, if I were younger, I would leave Greece,” indignantly told AFP Dionyssis Kiourkakis, an Athenian from 79 years old.

With the exception of the ring road, which remained closed on Tuesday, “almost all the major axes (of Athens) have reopened” to traffic, welcomed the governor of Attica George Patoulis, warning however on the public channel ERT TV that further snowfall is expected in the evening.

But on the island of Euboea, ravaged by unprecedented forest fires last summer, the roads remained cut off. As on other islands of the Cyclades, also deprived of means of maritime transport because of the strong winds.

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