Fairground owner arrested in crackdown following boy's death last month

The 54-year-old owner of a fairground in Halkida on Evia faced a prosecutor on Wednesday after state inspectors determined that he had no license for operating the site.

The suspect’s arrest came in the wake of a crackdown on children’s play areas following the death of a 13-year-old boy and the serious injury of his 9-year-old sister at a fairground in Elliniko, southern Athens, at the end of last month.

A few days after the Elliniko incident, Interior Minister Yiannis Michelakis sent a circular to all general secretaries and municipal authorities, calling for inspections to determine how many such facilities are operating without licenses and for a review of the licensed ones.