Government not responsible for Akrotiri disaster

Denying any responsibility in the unfortunate incident last Friday, where a section of the huge steel roof over the Arkotiri site, in Santorini, collapsed, the Culture Ministry has vowed to investigate the cause of the tragedy. The collapse led to the death of a British tourist and left at least 6 others injured. Petros Tatoulis, Deputy Culture Minister, termed the collapse of a section of the 14,000 square meter roof as extremely unfortunate, and suggested that the opposition PASOK was partly to blame, as they were in government, when the construction of the roof began in 2000. Evangelos Venizelos, PASOK MP and the former Culture Minister, retaliated by terming the government's act as "political cowardice". He further called on Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis and Tatoulis to "face their responsibilities and ensure that an objective investigation is conducted, so that blame can be apportioned".