Four elderly siblings, three women and one man, were found dead early Sunday after the makeshift container they called h...

Four elderly siblings, three women and one man, were found dead early Sunday after the makeshift container they called home caught fire at around 6 a.m. in Konitsa, in the Ioannina regional unit of northwestern Greece. Firefighters pulled four bodies from the wreckage after deploying 10 personnel and five vehicles to extinguish the blaze. The victims were aged 69, 75, 83, and 88. The container had been placed on the family's own land, next to the famous bridge of Konitsa, back in 1996 following a destructive earthquake that struck the area. At the time, an entire settlement of similar temporary shelters was erected for displaced residents. Over the decades, every other family eventually moved out, leaving these four siblings as the last holdouts. According to Skai, authorities had repeatedly urged the siblings to leave, with interventions reaching as far as the public prosecutor's office. Despite all of it, the four refused to abandon the structure. Neighbors described the conditions inside as extremely difficult, with no electricity and recurring health problems among the residents. The cause of the fire has not yet been officially determined. The container sat on the siblings' own field, and while the exact ignition source remains under investigation, the absence of electricity raises questions about what they may have been using for heat or light. Greek authorities have opened an inquiry into the incident. The 1996 Konitsa earthquake was a 6.6-magnitude event that caused widespread damage to buildings and infrastructure in the area, forcing many families into temporary housing that was never meant to be permanent. #Konitsa #Greece #Tragedy