At first light, footage showed charred train cars in a tangle of metal slabs and broken windows, rescuers trying to extricate survivors as thick smoke billowed from other crashed and capsized train cars on the shoreline.
According to local media, it is the “worst train accident Greece has ever known”. A train with 342 passengers on board collided with a freight convoy, killing at least 36 people.
• An extremely violent head-on collision
The collision occurred shortly before midnight on Tuesday north of the city of Larissa, in the center of the country, at the exit of a small tunnel through which a motorway passes. The passenger train traveled between Athens and Thessaloniki, Greece’s second-largest city in the north of the country, while the freight train took the opposite route.
Under the violent frontal impact, the locomotives and leading cars were pulverized and the drivers of the two trains were killed instantly. The dining car of the passenger train caught fire.
“We felt the collision like a big earthquake,” testified a passenger, Angelos, 22, at the crash site.
“Luckily we were in the penultimate car and we made it out alive. There was a fire in the first cars and panic broke out. It was a nightmare that I lived (…) I’m still shaking, ”he continued.
“People began to break the windows to get out of the cars, they shouted. It was a total panic, ”says another passenger on the Skai channel.
• The cause of the accident is unknown.
No details have been provided at this stage as to why the two trains collided. For some unknown reason, the two trains had been traveling on the same track “for several kilometres”, government spokesman Yiannis Oikonomou said.
Through tears, the Minister of Transport, Kostas Karamanlis, who went to the scene, promises that all the light will be shed to determine the causes of the accident while some already denounce the lack of safety on Greek trains.
“I felt something was wrong when we stopped. We were delayed due to heavy traffic on the railway tracks, the conductor told us that we would be delayed for 15 minutes because “it is a single track. We probably should have delayed more.” , (it was not) well planned”, enraged a passenger on the MEGA television channel.
The manager of the Larissa station in central Greece has been detained after the violent head-on collision between two trains that killed at least 36 people on Tuesday night, according to a police source.
“The 59-year-old stationmaster has been arrested. The charges against him will be released shortly,” the source said.
• Voices are raised to denounce deficiencies
Some have already denounced the lack of efficient security systems while train users in Greece regularly denounce their obsolescence. The president of the OSE machinists’ union, Kostas Genidounias, who went to the scene of the tragedy, denounced the lack of security, according to him, along this line that connects the two main cities of Greece.
“All (signage) is done manually. Security systems have not worked since the year 2000,” he let himself be carried away on the Ert television channel.
“This is an unimaginable accident. Two trains ended up on the same track and collided head-on, probably due to human error. No security system, remote control and traffic lights were working. This horrible accident would have been avoided if the security systems were working. “, said.
The Hellenic Train railway company, privatized in 2017, is controlled by the Italian public group Ferrovie di Stato (FS). Contacted by AFP, FS did not immediately comment.
• At least 36 people died
At least 36 people were killed and 85 injured, according to Vassilis Vathrakogiannis, a spokesman for the Greek fire brigade, who said rescue operations to try to free passengers possibly trapped in the damaged carriages were still ongoing.
In addition, “66 people have been hospitalized, six of whom are in intensive care,” it added.
That tally is expected to “increase” as relief operations continue under difficult conditions.
According to the Greek Health Minister, Thanos Plevris, “most of the passengers were young.” Many students were returning to Thessaloniki after a long weekend due to a public holiday in Greece.
• Operations continue
“The work of the firefighters and rescue workers is very difficult, they are looking for (…) the charred bodies,” Konstantinos Giannakopoulos, president of the Larissa doctors’ union, told public television channel ERT. .
According to indications of the emergency services during the night, 194 passengers could be evacuated. In the morning two huge cranes were deployed to remove charred corpses, clear pieces of metal and thus allow rescuers access to possible victims.
About 150 firefighters, as well as 40 ambulances, helped by mechanics, were mobilized according to the Greek aid. One of the wagons, white with a blue and red stripe, was completely crushed, making it particularly difficult for rescuers to intervene.
“I’ve never seen anything like this in my entire life. It’s a tragedy. Five hours later we’re still finding bodies,” a lifeguard confides breathlessly after having pulled two bodies from a wagon under thick smoke.
In Larissa, where the wounded were transported, the mayor, Apostolos Kalogiannis, described “floods of ambulances bringing burns, amputees, everything you can imagine.”
• Various national and international reactions
The Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who is there at the place in milieu de journée et a deuil national de treis jours decreed, to promise that toute la lumière will be fair under the circumstances of this train accident presented as the fire qu’ait connu Greece.
“One thing I can guarantee is that we will find the cause of this tragedy,” he promised.
Transport Minister Kostas Karamanlis, in a strangled voice, called on his compatriots to “remain calm.”
In the face of the tragedy, several international leaders have also given their support to Greece, such as by Georgia Meloni either Emmanuel Macron who said in a tweet: “France is on the side of the Greeks.”
Source: BFM TV
