Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Wednesday declared a three-day national mourning for the victims of a two-train collision in northern Greece last night, which left 36 dead and 130 injured.
From this Wednesday until next Friday all public celebrations are suspended and the flags will be at half mast in all public buildings.
The Greek prime minister is traveling to the site of the accident, and the country’s president, Katerina Sakelaropulu, promised that she would also visit the region soon, according to local press reports.
The trains collided shortly before midnight local time (10:00 p.m. in Lisbon) near Tempe, a small town located in a valley where there is a railway tunnel, some 300 kilometers north of Athens. The collision caused several carriages to derail and at least three caught fire.
About 150 firefighters, with 17 vehicles and four cranes are working this morning in search of survivors.
According to firefighters, at least 66 people had to be hospitalized, six of them in intensive care.
Passengers who suffered minor injuries or who escaped unharmed were transported by bus to Thessaloniki, 130 kilometers north of the country.
The regional governor of the Thessaly area, Costas Agorastos, told Greek Skai television that the two trains collided head-on and at high speed.
The Hellenic Train railway company reported that the passenger train, which connected Athens with the city of Thessaloniki, in the north of the country, was carrying around 350 people at the time of the crash.
According to statements by the mayor of Tempe, Yorgos Manolis, to the public broadcaster ERT, many students were on board the train after a long weekend.
Apparently, the trains -one for passengers and the other for cargo-, both operated by the Hellenic Train company, were running on the same track at high speed at the time of the accident, which, in principle, points to human error as the cause. . of the accident.
The Public Ministry opened an investigation to clarify the exact causes that led to the tragedy.
The tragedy led the Greek parliament to suspend the sessions scheduled for this Wednesday and the European Union has already reacted.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, said today that “all of Europe is in mourning” for the accident, while the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, expressed her “deep sadness”.
Source: TSF
