For two whole years a part of the old Athens-Corinth highway near the resort of Kineta remains severely damaged. With every new rainfall, the soil recedes more and more. In addition there is missing marking and motorists warning and the road is not closed to traffic.
For two whole years, the road and the damaged bridge over the river Pikas has not been repaired because the contractors who won the public bide to fix it are involved in a dispute that they try to solve in the courts, media reported citing authorities in charge.
The heavy rainfalls last week and the absence of anti-flooding measures in the river have obviously widened the crater and made the soil even more unstable.
As long as the contractors find no judicial solution, “the crater of Kineta” remains a trap for the local population wanting to move in the area, thus swallowing motorists and their vehicles one after the other, that is 8 accidents in total since 2019.
The latest adventure in the …crater took place early Monday morning when a 70-year-old man felt the asphalt receding under the tires of his car. Driver and vehicle ‘flew’ 12 meter deep and crashed on the soil.
The man remained trapped inside the bent metal sheets of his car for five hours, desperately waiting for help. Some cyclists discovered the man by chance and called ambulance and police.
“I was whispering Help! Help! but nobody listened,” the man told media adding that it was a miracle he came out alive. “Then some cyclists came and pulled me out of the car.”
Slightly injured the man was transferred to the hospital of Corinth.
After the accident and the causes made to the news and everybody stunned that the road problem has not been fixed for two whole year, several authorities in charge of the road, the bridge and the river promised to proceed with the marking of the area. In an effort to calm down public outrage and probably to avoid future unpleasant adventures in the famous crater of Kineta, just 50 km away from Athens in the West.