A Hellenic Air Force military transport plane carrying the bodies of seven young PAOK Thessaloniki fans who died on Tuesday in a traffic accident near Timisoara, in northwest Romania, landed in Thessaloniki just after 6 p.m. local time, with thousands of mourners gathered at the airport and along the streets leading into the city and the club’s Toumba Stadium.
An aerial view of Toumba Stadium as the procession of hearses carrying the bodies of the seven deceased PAOK fans arrives on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026.
A van carrying 10 PAOK Thessaloniki FC fans crashed into a tanker on a provincial Romanian roadway as it was carrying the group to Lyon, France for Thursday evening’s UEFA Europa League game against Lyon FC.
A trisagion memorial service was held shortly thereafter.
A procession of the seven hearses carrying the coffins of the deceased fans towards the stadium was accompanied by numerous motorcyclists.
The funerals of the victims of the horrific collision between a van that was carrying them and a tanker truck will be held on Friday and Saturday.
Mournful Memorial Service at Timisoara
Meanwhile, a doleful trisagion memorial service was earlier held at the Timisoara airport, officiated by Romanian Orthodox Church’s Metropolitan of Banat, Ioan, before the coffins carrying the bodies of the young PAOK fans on the tarmac, and as they awaited to be placed in the waiting transport plane.
Metropolitan Ioan left a single white rose atop each coffin and tearfully recited the name of each victim.
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Scores of candles have been placed outside Toumba Stadium’s Gate 4, in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, in mourning of the seven fans who lost their lives in the traffic crash. Hours earlier, a Beechcraft King Air ambulance transported two out of the three injured men that were passengers in the utterly demolished van from Timisoara to Thessaloniki’s Macedonia Airport, where ambulances then took them to a local hospital.
The third man remained in the Romanian city and underwent another surgery. Hi condition is more serious than the other two.
Meanwhile, PAOK FC has issued a statement promising to “stand by the families of our 10 fans.”
“We will support them morally and in any other way possible,” a club official said.
