Greek police arrest three, including factory owner, after deadly biscuit factory fire kills five workers in Trikala, worst industrial accident in years
ATHENS: Greek investigators on Tuesday arrested three people following a fire that killed five workers at a biscuit factory in the country’s worst industrial accident in years.
The explosion early on Monday ripped through an entire section of the Violanta factory near the central Greek city of Trikala.
Three Greek citizens were arrested and charged with “acts and omissions connected with offences of negligent homicide and serious bodily injury”, a statement from the fire department said.
A source close to the case told AFP that one of the arrested individuals is the factory owner, a well-known figure in Greece. The other two are the shift supervisor on duty during the night from Sunday to Monday and the safety manager, the source added.
Four of the victims were found soon after the blast but the fifth was only recovered on Tuesday morning as pockets of fire made the operation difficult, the fire department earlier said.
“The case will be investigated to the end … possibly, even today, we may have an initial picture of what caused the fire,” Civil Protection Minister Giannis Kefalogiannis earlier told state TV ERT.
A source in the Trikala prosecutor’s office said the fire department was supervising the investigation.
“The case file will include possible criminal responsibility over security failures at the factory,” they said.
The deaths have shocked local communities around Trikala, which provide much of the company’s workforce.
Colleagues and relatives said the women who died had chosen to work the night shift so they could be with their children during the day.
The Violanta company in a statement insisted it “strictly applies protocols and procedures, adhering to all measures for the safety of our staff and facilities”.
“We are mourning five of our own,” the company said, adding it was “fully” cooperating with the investigation.
The blaze is one of the country’s deadliest industrial accidents in recent years.
A local trade union on Monday said it had not been allowed to inspect the facility.
Over 200 people died in work-related accidents in 2025, according to the federation of technical company employees.
In 1992, 15 people died in a refinery explosion in the industrial zone of Elefsina, near the port of Piraeus.
Three people died in a dynamite factory explosion in Itea, central Greece, in 2022.
The Violanta plant in Trikala, the company’s first and biggest, produced 12,500 tonnes of biscuits, cookies and wafers per year, according to the company website.
