On Monday, 18 September 2023, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who is taking part in an official visit to Estonia, performed a Trisagion Memorial Service for the repose in the Lord of the victims of the tragic accident in Libya, at the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary on the island of Hiiumaa.
In his homily, the Ecumenical Patriarch expressed his grief over the fact that people who went to save their fellow human beings lost their lives, and expressed his condolences and sympathy to their families.
It is recalled that the dead bodies of three Armed Forces officers and two interpreters called on by the foreign ministry for Greece’s humanitarian aid mission to Libya were transferred back to Greece in a C-27 military plane on Monday. The five members of the mission were reported dead in an accident on Sunday.
Moreover, Greek Foreign Affairs Minister George Gerapetritis expressed his “deepest sorrow for the tragic death of the five members of the Greek humanitarian aid mission in Libya,” in a post on Twitter on Monday evening.
Several people were injured in a road accident involving a bus and a private car.
“During these difficult times, our thoughts are with the families of the deceased, to whom I extend my sincere condolences,” he added. He wished a swift recovery to the injured, before writing that “today our country is mourning.”
A three-day mourning period in Greece’s Armed Forces was declared.
