Chalkidiki: Tanker truck driver arrested – 7-year-old girl in critical condition

The 7-year-old daughter of a Moldovan vacationing family is hospitalized in critical condition after a devastating car crash in Chalkidiki, which claimed the lives of her parents and her infant sister.

The young girl is the sole survivor of the tragic incident, which occurred yesterday around 6:20 PM on the Neα Moudania – Sithonia regional road, near Metamorfosi, Chalkidiki.

According to reports, the passenger car carrying the family of four, driven by the 35-year-old father, collided head-on under circumstances currently under investigation with a vacuum tanker truck driven by a 44-year-old Greek national.

The violent collision resulted in the deaths of the 35-year-old driver, his 28-year-old wife, and their 6-month-old baby girl. The father was extracted from the wreckage by firefighters with severe injuries and was rushed in critical condition to the Polygyros General Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries a few hours later despite the doctors’ efforts.

The 7-year-old girl was initially transported to the Polygyros Hospital before being transferred to Papageorgiou Hospital due to the severity of her condition.

According to the latest medical updates, the child was intubated and transferred this morning from Papageorgiou Hospital to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Ippokratio Hospital, where she is currently being treated. The girl sustained severe chest trauma and femoral fractures, requiring two separate surgeries performed by pediatric surgeons and orthopedic specialists, respectively.

The 44-year-old driver of the vacuum truck escaped the crash uninjured. Police sources confirmed that as part of the preliminary investigation conducted by the Polygyros Traffic Department, the driver was arrested and is scheduled to appear before the Polygyros Prosecutor’s Office this afternoon.

Earlier, the Hellenic Police released an official statement regarding the accident:

“Yesterday (July 15, 2026) at approximately 18:20, at the 28.6-kilometer mark of the N. Moudania – Sithonia regional road, a passenger vehicle driven by a 35-year-old foreign national collided head-on with a commercial freight vehicle driven by a 44-year-old local national. The crash resulted in the fatal injury of the 35-year-old driver, a 28-year-old foreign female, and an infant, as well as the injury of a minor child, all passengers in the first vehicle. A preliminary investigation to determine the exact causes of the accident is being conducted by the Polygyros Traffic Department.”