Fear of blood revenge Brutal family feud shakes Cretan mountain village

A war-like scene in a tourist region: a bomb, a counter-attack with assault rifles in the middle of the village, two dead. A conflict between two families escalates on Crete.

DPA

01.11.2025, 17:52

dpa

In the tranquil Cretan mountain village of Vorizia, a long-running feud between two families has escalated. On Saturday morning, the village was engulfed in a hail of bullets from assault rifles, pistols, revolvers and shotguns as the two families clashed. A 37-year-old man and a 57-year-old woman were killed and 14 people were injured, two of them seriously, according to Greek media reports. There are now fears of a continuation of the "blood feud" that was common on Crete in the last century.

At the moment, tense calm prevails in the village of 500 inhabitants, which lies southwest of the Cretan city of Heraklion. Heavily armed special units of the Greek police are searching every single house and, according to reports in the Greek media, will remain in the village.

Conflict over new building?

The escalation is said to be a conflict between two large families in the village, reported a reporter from the news channel ERTnews. Initially, a bomb exploded at the construction site of a new building belonging to one of the families on Saturday night. According to reports, the affected family members then moved towards the houses of the opposing family on Saturday morning and opened fire. Thousands of shots are said to have been fired. Video footage shows a pick-up truck being driven away, its rear end riddled with bullets.

"I barely escaped death," an eyewitness told Kriti TV. "Suddenly I saw an SUV shooting in all directions." His car was hit several times before he was able to escape. While most of the injured and the dead are said to be members of the two families, six completely uninvolved people are also said to have been injured, ERTnews reported.

Dead and injured on both sides

Meanwhile, special police units are on guard outside two hospitals in the city of Heraklion - the injured members of the respective families were taken to different facilities as a precaution. Previously, some of the people had to be taken to the hospitals in tractors and private cars because the ambulance service did not dare to enter the village. According to reports, the two dead belong to one of the opposing families.

Well-known feud in the tourist stronghold area

Blood feuds - known as vendettas in Greece - occasionally flare up in remote regions of Crete, where old family rivalries continue to have an effect to this day. To make matters worse, it is still part of the self-image of many Cretan men to own weapons.

One of the most famous feuds took place in the area that is now the tourist stronghold of Chania. It began in 1910 and lasted until the mid-1980s. Allegedly, it was about a "matter of honor" between the Sartzetakis and Pentarakis families. Over the decades, the fights took on increasingly frightening proportions. A total of 120 people from both families were killed. The feud could only be ended through mediation at the highest political level.

"Nobody talks here"

In many cases, the conflicts are so old and obscure that no one remembers what triggered them. Only the hatred remains, passed down through generations. Even with the current escalation in Vorizia, it remains to be seen whether the actual reasons for the conflict will be discovered.

In addition to the blood feud, there is another phenomenon on Crete, as a Greek reporter described on ERTnews: "This is a typical Cretan village. Nobody talks here."