It has emerged what happened on the yacht "Persefoni I" during the first hours of the fire on the Greek island of Hydra.
As ORDA reports, citing the publication iEidiseis, after the incident on the island, local emergency services allowed the Kazakh suspects of arson to leave Greece.
According to the publication, firstly, the coastguard made a mistake. According to one of its employees, he received an order not to detain the yacht "Persefoni I". Secondly, an employee of the local anti-arson unit was at fault.
"He said that he contacted the passengers of the specific vessel and even asked them if they had any connection to the fire. And he was satisfied with the negative answer they gave", the report states.
The third mistake, according to the publication, was made by fire service employees who spoke with the passengers of the yacht upon its arrival at the port.
"The testimony confirms that, firstly, the Kazakh nationals were only questioned orally. Secondly, the 'argument' that they were running late for their flight was enough to allow them to leave before they gave statements as witnesses and before their mobile phones could be checked", the article states.
Meanwhile, journalists published an excerpt of testimony from one of the fire service employees.
"They told me that at the moment they noticed the fire due to the strong smell of smoke, they were in the yacht's salon watching a match of the European Football Championship. When asked if any entertainment event involving the use of signal flares had taken place on the yacht, they answered 'no'. They also informed me that from the time they boarded the yacht until the moment they became aware of the fire, they did not leave the yacht towards the shore on the auxiliary boat", the firefighter stated.
For context, a major fire on the Greek island of Hydra is believed, according to preliminary data, to have been caused by fireworks launched by tourists from a luxury yacht.
Earlier, it was reported that wealthy Kazakh nationals were on the yacht and left the country the following day on a private plane. Among them was allegedly one of Kazakhstan's well-known businessmen, Daniyar Abulgazin, with his family. Also listed among the passengers were the Chairperson of the Management Board of Halyk Bank, Umut Shayakhmetova, her husband, a former top manager of the oil company KMG International NV, Beimbet Shayakhmetov, and their daughter.
For his part, Daniyar Abulgazin denies any involvement in the fire on the island in Greece.
Later, it became known that the Greek prosecutor's office had charged 8 adult Kazakh passengers with complicity in arson. Local authorities allegedly officially requested assistance from the Kazakh authorities, as the yacht's charterers had left Greece without waiting to be interrogated.