By Aggelos Skordas
Speculation around the circumstances under which popular Greek singer Pantelis Pantelidis lost his life, during a fatal car accident, keeps occupying the Greek media almost a year after his death. According to the latest updates, new evidence indicates that the 32-year-old artist was not the driver of the Mercedes SUV during the fatal crash on Vouliagmenis Avenue, in the southern suburbs of Athens.
At the same time, though, one of the two women that got in the car with him that morning, Mina Arnaouti, has published a series of photos on her Facebook page taken moments after the paramedics arrived on the spot. In one of those photos, according to Arnaouti, Pantelidis’ dead body can allegedly be seen on the driver’s seat.
As Greek newspaper RealNews published on Sunday, the DNA material found on the passenger seat does not belong solely to the singer but also to the second woman that got in the car, Froso Kyriakou.
In particular, according to the Greek newspaper, the report signed by the doctor of Molecular Genetics, Giorgos Fitsialos, one of the experts investigating the case on behalf of Pantelidis family, indicates that female DNA traces were found on the steering wheel. The report, which was delivered to the prosecutor, stated characteristically: “In two of the seven samples taken from the vehicle’s steering wheel genetic analysis has led to the detection of mixed genetic profile of at least two persons, one of whom is the Pantelis Pantelidis. With a closer look at indicators, one notices that the second sample has full compatibility with the genetic profile of Froso Kyriakou and that is something that needs to be further examined.”
It is reminded that according to the official investigation published only days after the fatal car accident, the popular singer was reportedly driving when he lost control of his vehicle and crashed against crash barriers. The singer was then transferred to Asklipio Hospital in the suburb of Voula where he was pronounced dead. The two women have managed to survive the accident despite their heavy injuries that kept them in hospital for a long period. An autopsy found large quantities of alcohol in his bloodstream and this was also confirmed by the two women accompanying him the night before the wreck.
Pantelidis was born in Athens in 1983 and grew up in the neighbourhood of Nea Ionia. A self-taught musician, he first became popular through his music videos on YouTube, while later he abandoned a career in the Hellenic Navy to pursue his musical ambitions. After his death two of his songs (“Ta Shinia Sou” and “Pino Apo 'Ki Psila Gia Sena”) reached the top on the Billboard chart “Greece Digital Songs.”
