Porto Rafti: 70-year-old dead in head-on collision

A 70-year-old man lost his life in a traffic accident that occurred shortly before 8 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon August 4, 2026 on the Porto Rafti road in Eastern Attica. Two passenger cars collided head-on at the 35-kilometer mark, in the direction toward Markopoulo. A second man was injured and transported to KAT Hospital, where he is being treated. The force of the collision was such that one of the two vehicles became inaccessible without the use of hydraulic tools, while traffic at the site was temporarily cut off until the vehicles were removed.

According to the official Fire Department statement, a man was extricated unconscious from one of the cars and was taken over by an ambulance crew from EKAB. Six firefighters with two vehicles participated in the operation, working alongside EKAB and traffic police crews. The circumstances under which the collision occurred remain under investigation by traffic police, who will assess road markings, vehicle positioning after impact and statements from those at the scene. In accidents of this type speed, visibility at the time of incident, road surface condition and possible encroachment of one vehicle into the opposite lane are typically examined. No version of the causes has been formally confirmed.

Video footage from the scene was made public, as well as testimony from the injured driver on a television news bulletin. The injured driver described not perceiving the other vehicle before the collision; his words and personal details are not reproduced here, as he is a person receiving medical treatment and his description forms part of material to be evaluated by authorities and not as a determination of causes. It is noted that this specific incident is separate from an earlier fatal traffic accident in the same Porto Rafti area involving a young male victim, with which it should not be confused.

The Porto Rafti road is one of the most heavily trafficked axes in Eastern Attica during summer months, as it connects Markopoulo with coastal settlements and experiences increased traffic in late afternoons and weekends in August. It is a road with long straight sections and stretches without a dividing island, characteristics that make head-on collisions particularly dangerous, and the same applies to other Eastern Attica axes that were designed for far less traffic than they currently carry. Area residents and local authorities have repeatedly raised issues of lighting, signage and speeds on this axis. The accident fits into a burdened picture for road safety in Attica: according to Traffic Police Attica data for July, six deaths were recorded in 462 accidents within a single month. The results of the investigation into this specific incident are awaited from traffic police and no timeline for completion has been announced.