Egnatia

Two bears were run over and killed within the space of a few hours on Monday at the same location on the Egnatia National Highway near Siatista in Kozani, northern Greece.

One of the animals was run over by a truck, while the second, a pregnant female, was hit by a car.

Two Greek wildlife conservation groups, Arcturos and Callisto, on Friday called for a barrier to be erected on a section of the Egnatia Highway near Kozani in northern Greece after a bear was killed in a road accident on Thursday, the fifth such incident this year.

Four new toll stations are due to open on the Egnatia Odos highway in northern Greece on December 14, increasing the cost of motorists' journeys.

The new tolls will be at Pamviotida, Mesti, Ieropigi and Evzones, with charges being calculated according to distance.

A regular car, for example, will have to pay 1.20 euros at Pamviotida and 2.10 euros at Ieropigi.

Greece's privatization agency on Friday opened a tender procedure for a concession to run Egnatia Odos, a motorway running from west to east in northern Greece.

The contract is part of a privatization process launched by Greece under a multi-billion euro bailout accord with international lenders.

A survey of Greece's road network has mapped the most dangerous spots. 

The survey, compiled from studies carried out between 2011 and 2015 by Egnatia Odos SA that were based on police data on road accidents and on-site inspections, identifies 7,000 accident hotspots.

The studies were funded by the previous National Strategic Reference Framework (known in Greece as ESPA).

Police in Thessaloniki said on Saturday they arrested a member of a people trafficking gang with 10 migrants packed in his car.

The suspect - a 34-year-old foreign national - was arrested following a car chase along the Egnatia Highway, near the Analipsi toll station, after he ignored a police signal to stop late Friday night.

Egnatia Odos, the highway running from Greece's northwest to northeast, cost more than any other national road project to develop yet remains the most affordable of the country's highway stretches for motorists, according to data provided at a recent conference by Giorgos Dedes, general secretary for infrastructure.

Police have arrested a 39-year-old man on charges of human trafficking after a vehicle chase along Egnatia Odos highway in northern Greece.

Officials tried to stop the van after it drove through the Analipsi toll station, near Thessaloniki. The 39-year-old driver refused to stop, leading to a police chase for several kilometers.

A group of migrants on Monday protested against their living conditions at the Derveni camp, near Thessaloniki, in northern Greece, according to reports.

Reports said a group of about 20 people left the facility and staged a rally on the side of Egnatia highway.

Protesters returned to the camp shortly afterwards, reports said.

Police on Saturday were questioning a Turkish national arrested the night before next to the Egnatia Highway in northern Greece allegedly trying to start a brush fire.