Thessaloniki Fair: When the 2004 Chinook Crash Cast Its Opening Into Mourning

The opening of the Thessaloniki International Fair has now been plunged into mourning twice by fatal military aircraft crashes. The first came on September 11, 2004, when a CH-47D Chinook carrying Patriarch Peter VII of Alexandria and his entourage to Karyes on Mount Athos fell into the sea off Sithonia.

All 17 people aboard died. The crash occurred during the opening of the 69th fair, held under the government of Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis. The traditional reception that normally followed the prime minister’s speech did not take place. The speech itself had been overshadowed by the tragedy.

In the days that followed, authorities located the helicopter’s wreckage at a depth of 866 meters. Recovery teams brought parts of the aircraft and the bodies of all 17 passengers to the surface, but the operation was difficult and incomplete. Not every section of the Chinook could be recovered.

That missing evidence meant the precise cause of the accident was never clarified. The unresolved questions helped fuel a range of theories surrounding the crash. The account comes as the opening of the fair is again associated with loss, following the current crash of a Phantom 105 at Tanagra that killed its two pilots.