Maria Karystianou: “Shame on You, Argives*” – The Cover-Up Around the EODASAM Report and the Truth About the Unknown Fuel

Maria Karystianou, a pediatrician and mother of a victim of the Tempi train disaster, speaks out with a powerful and uncompromising voice against the ongoing cover-up of the truth. In her writings, Karystianou highlights how the EODASAM (National Organization for the Investigation of Railway Accidents) report—initially hailed as the “Gospel” of the inquiry, and co-signed by an expert from the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA)—was later disparaged as a mere “pamphlet” once it revealed findings that clashed with the official narrative. She draws attention to the paragraphs that explicitly confirm the presence of an unknown fuel, the very substance that triggered the fireball which burned and killed our children.

“Shame on you, Argives*!
* The word “Argives” comes from the Homeric expression Αἰδώς Ἀργεῖοι in the Iliad. It literally means “Shame on you, Argives!” and was used as a reproach to denounce them as cowards — people who pretend one thing but act otherwise — a phrase of strong contempt rather than encouragement.

Shame on you, Argives!

From “Gospel” to “pamphlet” – just one step when a convenient narrative must be served…

The report of the National Organization for the Investigation of Railway Accidents (EODASAM) was initially described as the “Gospel” of the case.

Yet, once we highlighted the damning verbatim findings of the report—that the fireball which burned our children was caused by an unknown fuel, a fuel which, as the report states, would have been detected if the accident site had not been hastily buried—suddenly the “Gospel” was transformed into a “pamphlet,” because its findings did not suit the government’s story.

Correspondence was even revealed in which the admirer of Mrs. Dora Bakoyannis, EODASAM President Mr. Christos Papadimitriou, allegedly tried to persuade ERA’s Head of Safety, Bart Accou, not to include those critical passages on the causes of the fireball.

However, Mr. Accou’s response was categorical, and those passages remained in the report.

Because, of course, the goal was never the revelation of the TRUTH that we all expected, but to manipulate this report into yet another convenient tool in the hands of those ruthless actors—high and low—who are handling the Tempi case.

The cherry on top today comes from government-aligned media, which, in blatant violation of journalistic duty, misinform the public by claiming that the Fire Service’s inspection (not a report, as their parrots wrongly call it), conducted 2.5 years after the tragedy, somehow “debunks” the findings of the EODASAM report. Utterly false publications.

Only today, after endless struggle, did the investigating judge finally hand us this so-called Fire Service inspection—an inspection we first learned about through the press (!). What we found was a document full of speculation, estimations, and vague references that:

• REACHES NO SPECIFIC CONCLUSION on the causes of the fireball,
• NOWHERE STATES that the “death train” carried no fuel, and
• DOES NOT DEBUNK the corresponding references of the EODASAM report.

And as if this wasn’t enough, investigating judge Bakaimis, immediately after receiving the delayed inspection and just as the false, misleading reports were published, hastily closed the case file (!).

How have they reduced our country to this?
How naive do they think we are?
With what conscience do they so shamelessly desecrate the souls of our children?
Is there no shred of humanity left in them?
So faithful servants of evil?
How great, finally, is the secret they hide, and which “familiar” faces does it touch, that such a machinery of rot and corruption has been set in motion?

Shame on you, Argives!

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There was no so-called illegal cargo, yet not a word is spoken about the Technical Reports and the findings of the NATIONAL ORGANIZATION (EODASAM), in which the expert from the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA), Bart Accou, also participated.

Paragraphs 459, 465, 466, 467, 468, 469, 470, 474, 477, 478, 480, 485, 488, 489, and 494 record the existence of the unknown fuel—the same fuel that caused the fireball we all saw on our screens, which incinerated our children!

A fuel that would have been identified if, under government order and with the tolerance and complicity of justice, the accident site had not been buried in record time, precisely to erase all evidence!

How much clearer could the EODASAM report have written it?
Paragraph 478: “If proper sampling and analysis had been carried out at the accident site on March 1, 2023 (10–12 hours after the accident), there would have been sufficient information to identify the type and source location of the unknown fuel (see site inspection).”

Whatever you do, whoever you deploy, everything will come to light!
That light, together with your guilt, will always haunt you!

Maria Karystianou is a pediatrician and the mother of a victim of the Tempi train disaster (February 28, 2023). Since that day, she has fought tirelessly for the revelation of the truth, for justice for the children who were lost, and for accountability at every level. Through public gatherings, groundbreaking speeches, and her relentless presence, she has become one of the most recognizable voices of the families of the victims, representing with courage and perseverance their demand for transparency and justice in Greece.