Riding a train in Greece – which doesn’t connect to other European Union countries – is putting your life in the hands of those who don’t care and proved it when two trains collided head on in February, 2023, killing 57 people.

Only a handful of railway executives and a stationmaster have been charged and you can bet that this, like almost every scandal in Greece, will fade in time and be an inside page story declaring no one guilty of anything, barring a scapegoat.

Ferry boat captains have now said that many ports on islands to which millions of tourists flock annually is risky business for them too because they haven’t been maintained or dredged, despite tourism being the country’s biggest revenue provider.

Now it turns out that the carnival and fun park rides aren’t safe either, although that was already known and ignored and forgotten until a 19-year-old on a dilapidated swinging chair ride called The Crazy Dance was flung off to his death.

Before the tragedy, police went to the summer makeshift setup in the northern municipality of Kassandra and said while the operator didn’t have a license that there wasn’t any indication rides were unsafe – although they were.

An unnamed engineer who went to the park to inspect rides signed off approval on the deadly ride without actually putting it into operation and checking it, OPEN TV said earlier without indicating how that had been confirmed.

Later the brother of the victim, on the ride with him, said they were told some of the seats weren’t safe.

A consultant hired by the father of the victim – the dad got up the courage to go to the scene and watch the ride being checked by someone competent and not ducking responsibility, found The Crazy Dance was really The Deadly Dance.

The ride operator, 21, ran away when the tragedy was still happening, leaving the ride spinning until others at the park stopped it but the victim’s other brother and mother were on the ground watching him fly to his death.

“The specific machine and all the chairs on it – because there are four sets of chairs at the points of rotation and support – are all rotten. They were extremely dangerous. And no, they didn’t become dangerous yesterday,” he said. “No one should have issued a certification (for use),” he added.

It wasn’t said if the inspector was being questioned but the report said the park’s management either ignored these complaints or attempted to cover up issues by repainting worn equipment to make it appear new.

The park owner was charged too but, like the ride operator, quickly let go and Kassandra Mayor Anastasia Chalkia said the Development Ministry was responsible for licenses for amusement parks and the safety of rides – but the ministry said it was up to the municipality, both sides trying to evade blame.

Chalkia told Kathimerini procedures for imposing sanctions were initiated when the municipality was informed but said she didn’t have the authority to shut down the business, only impose a fine of 30,000 euros ($33,243) and that the park runs every summer and gets a temporary license for two months.

But this time, she said, “we didn’t know it had opened; it was in a private area. It hadn’t notified Notify Business, nor had it applied for a license; it was as if it didn’t exist,” she said without explaining how she wouldn’t know.

“I don’t have an inspection mechanism. I don’t know what might be opening illegally in the municipality. Two years ago I applied for municipal police. Eleven of them were approved and I am waiting for them to be sent to us,” she said.

No one is being blamed for anything, of course. Ehhh, this is Greece, where your ineptitude – or negligence or aggression – can lead to people being killed. In 2023, a man was pushed to his death off the back of a ferry he was trying to board late.

The crew member who pushed him and the Captain were, of course, arrested for a brief show but a year later no one’s gone to court for anything and when – or if – they  do they likely won’t be convicted. If they are, the sentence will be lenient.

Almost six years after July 23, 2018 wildfires killed 104 people and nearly wiped out the seaside village of Mati – the then ruling Radical Left SYRIZA didn’t have a disaster response plan or texting warnings to cell phones – 15 of 21 defendants from politicians to fire officials were acquitted.

The other six – including the elderly man who started it by burning brush in the wind – were able to buy 5-year sentences by paying 10 euros a day, so now we know the cost of manslaughter and incompetence and failure in Greece.

In 2022, four people were injured on a ride in an amusement park in Athens when thrown out of a car ride and in 2019 a 14-year-old girl was killed falling off a ride that was going too fast.

In the latest case the ride operator was said to have told the brothers to try to find a safe seat because he was going “to push it hard.” They didn’t know there’s no safe seats in Greece.