In the early morning hours of Monday, January 26, 2026, a powerful explosion ripped through the Violanta biscuit plant on the outskirts of Trikala, a city in Thessaly, central Greece, about 320 km (~ 200 miles) north of Athens, the country’s capital. According to the fire department, 11 workers were inside the factory’s affected production wing at the time. Rescue crews recovered the bodies of five women workers from the debris. The rest were pulled out alive, along with a firefighter who suffered minor injuries during the response.