The death toll stands at at least 43 and a railway worker was arrested on Wednesday after the fire. head-on collision of passenger and freight trains near the town of Tempe in northern Greece.
More than 80 people were injured and the Greek government declared three days of national mourning after the country’s deadliest train accident.
Train operator Hellenic Train said the passenger train was traveling from Athens to Thessaloniki, Greece’s second-largest city and a popular tourist destination that describes itself as the “gateway to the Aegean Sea.” The train was carrying 350 people, including many university students returning from Carnival, a three-day national holiday that precedes the Christian season of Lent.
Several train cars derailed and at least three caught fire after the two trains collided at high speed shortly before midnight Tuesday, authorities said.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis promised an independent investigation and said the accident appeared to be “mainly due to tragic human error” but gave no details.
Rescue teams spent hours searching the wreckage, listening to calls from survivors. Cranes were brought in to peel away the layers of twisted and burned steel.
Eight railway workers were killed, including the two drivers of the freight train and the two drivers of the passenger train, said the president of the Greek Railway Workers’ Union, Yannis Nitsas.
Developments:
►Greek fire services said nearly 60 people remained hospitalized as of Wednesday evening, including six in intensive care. Journalist Elli Kasholi told the BBC that 20 to 25 people were missing, but some may have left the accident scene unnoticed.
►Greek Transport Minister Kostas Karamanlis resigned on Wednesday, saying it was his duty to step down out of “respect for the memory of those who died so unjustly”.
►Flags were lowered to half-mast in front of all European Commission buildings in Brussels.
►Pope Francis, in a message to the president of the Greek bishops’ conference, offered his condolences.
►Protests broke out Wednesday evening in Athens, where several hundred members of left-wing groups marched against train deaths. No arrests or injuries were reported, but some protesters threw stones at the Hellenic Train offices and set dumpsters on fire.
Station official arrested
The station master in Larissa, near where two trains collided Tuesday evening, was charged with negligent manslaughter and negligent grievous bodily harm, police said. The station manager, responsible for signaling, denies any wrongdoing and attributes the accident to a possible technical breakdown, indicated the BBC reported.
A police statement identified the station manager only as a 59-year-old man. He is due to appear before a prosecutor on Thursday to be formally charged.
Two other people were detained for questioning, police said. Authorities did not immediately disclose their connection to the crash, and no cause was immediately revealed.
“There was panic”: survivors recount horrific moments
Some survivors said the collision felt like an earthquake.
“We heard a big bang,” Stergios Minenis, 28, who jumped to safety from the wreckage, told Reuters. “We turned around in the car until we fell on its side and the commotion stopped. Then there was panic. Cables, fire. The fire was immediate. At the moment where we turned, we were burned.”
He described 10 to 15 seconds of chaos amid dangling wires, broken windows and flames – “people screaming, people trapped.”
Stefanos Gogakos was in a rear carriage and said the accident sounded like an explosion. He could see flames at the front of the train.
“The window panes broke and fell on us,” he told public broadcaster ERT. “My head hit the roof of the car with the impact. Some people started coming out of the windows because there was smoke in the car. The doors were closed, but a few minutes later the train staff opened them and we got out. »
Greece ranks among the bottom in rail safety in Europe
Several studies carried out in recent years have determined that Greece ranks among the top in terms of rail accidents per capita in Europe. From 2018 to 2020, Greece recorded the highest mortality rate among 28 European countries, according to the European Union Agency for Railways.
Greek Transport Minister Kostas Karamanlis, who resigned following the disaster, said he had tried to improve a rail system that was “in a state not suitable for the 21st century”.
Kostas Genidounias, president of the Greek train drivers’ association, told ERT of long-standing problems with electronic systems meant to warn drivers.
“Nothing works. Everything happens manually across the entire Athens-Thessaloniki network,” Genidounias said. “Neither the indicators, nor the traffic lights, nor the electronic traffic control work.”
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Confusion and fear moments after the accident
“There were a lot of big pieces of steel,” said Vassilis Polyzos, a local resident who said he was one of the first people on the scene. “The trains were completely destroyed, both for passengers and goods.”
He said dazed and disoriented people were running out of the rear carriages of the train when it arrived.
“People were understandably scared – very scared,” he said. “They looked around them, searching; they didn’t know where they were.
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Prime Minister commits to determining cause of accident
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who called the accident an “unspeakable tragedy,” visited the area, his office said.
“We will uncover the causes of this tragedy and do everything in our power to ensure that this does not happen again,” Mitsotakis said.
How did the train accident happen?
The trains crashed just short of the Tempe Valley, a gorge that separates the regions of Thessaly and Macedonia, 235 miles north of Athens. Costas Agorastos, regional governor of Thessaly, told Greek television Skai that the two trains collided head-on at high speed.
“Wagons 1 and 2 no longer exist and the third has derailed,” he said.
Survivors said the impact threw several passengers through train car windows. They said others fought to free themselves after the passenger train veered off course and slammed into a field near the gorge.
Contributor: Associated Press
