Road accident in Rhodes: “He didn’t run any red light,” says 44-year-old driver’s sister

New details are emerging about the fatal road accident in Rhodes that claimed the lives of a mother and her daughter.

Speaking to MEGA, the sister of the accused driver said her brother insists he neither ran a red light nor developed excessive speed, but instead crossed on green. “He keeps telling us, ‘I didn’t run any red light. The other vehicle made a U-turn from the opposite lane,’” she commented.

“We’re hearing all sorts of things now, I don’t know. I can’t really say anything at this point. Two lives were lost. It was a terrible moment, that moment right there. He told me, ‘I wasn’t speeding. The light was green when I crossed. I don’t know what happened.’ That’s what he told me. Now I’m waiting to see what the police investigation will show. He has two children. He owns two businesses. He’s a professional driver. It’s not like he was some inexperienced driver. He just likes speed. He likes racing, he participates in races. He’s experienced, very experienced behind the wheel. Nobody intended for this to happen. I’m not the one responsible for judging how he was driving or what exactly happened. And we didn’t want those women to die either. They were also very well known here in Rhodes. I knew them too. But whatever I say now would be unfair. I can say he’s a good person. They were good people too. We’re all good people. Speed is speed. He owns a very powerful, race-style car. None of this was intentional,” the 44-year-old driver’s sister said.

“We Thought They Were Street Racing”

A witness who was on the same road reportedly saw the 44-year-old driver’s vehicle moving at very high speed.

Speaking to ANT1, she described what she saw: “It was around noon. My husband, our children and I were driving from Rhodes toward Agios Ioannis, in Kalithies. Just after the traffic lights at the Koskinou junction, we heard a very loud noise coming from behind us and thought that some kind of street race was taking place, as often happens on the island with cars or motorcycles, because we couldn’t clearly make out what it was.”

“There was an extremely loud roaring sound. Within seconds, a small silver car sped past us — that’s all we managed to see. It overtook both us and the cars ahead at a terrifying speed, zigzagging through traffic,” the witness continued.

She added: “I even told my husband at that moment to pull over and slow down because someone was driving way too fast. The car passed us and kept accelerating because we could still hear the exhaust very loudly, even though it had already gone a great distance away. I told my husband, ‘The way he’s driving, he’s going to kill someone.’ A few hours later, we learned that he had killed the two women.”

Felony charges filed against the driver

It is recalled that on Monday (18/5), the head of the Rhodes First Instance Prosecutor’s Office filed felony charges against the driver of the vehicle that caused the fatal accident.

The charges concern dangerous driving resulting in the deaths of two people.

The 44-year-old, accompanied by police officers and his lawyers, appeared before the investigating magistrate in Rhodes and requested additional time in order to prepare his testimony.

How the fatal crash happened in Rhodes

The accident occurred on Sunday afternoon at the 18th kilometer of the Lindos–Rhodes provincial road, in the Afantou area near a supermarket, when the car carrying the two women collided with a vehicle traveling from the city of Rhodes toward Lindos.

The two women had stopped at an intersection and were turning into a side road when the 44-year-old driver was approaching from the opposite direction. The collision was so violent that the women’s vehicle overturned and was reduced to a mangled wreck.

The 57-year-old mother and her 26-year-old daughter, both from Rhodes, were pulled unconscious from the vehicle. They were transported by ambulance to the hospital, but doctors were unable to revive them.

Traffic police are investigating the exact causes and circumstances of the crash, with officers gathering evidence, witness testimonies, and security camera footage in order to fully reconstruct the sequence of events behind the tragedy.