Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Sunday apologized to the families of the victims of the two-train disaster that killed 57 people on Tuesday and sparked a major uprising among the people of Greece.
“As prime minister, I owe forgiveness to everyone, but especially to the families of the victims,” Mitsotakis said in a message addressed to the Greeks, published on the social network Facebook.
“In Greece in 2023, it will not be possible for two trains to run in opposite directions on the same track and not be noticed by anyone,” he said.
“We can’t, we don’t want to and we shouldn’t hide behind human error,” said Larissa’s station chief, the conservative prime minister stressed.
Mitsokanis will attend a church service on Sunday at the Orthodox Cathedral in Athens.
All churches in the country plan to pay tribute this Sunday to the victims of the accident, which took place on Tuesday and also left dozens injured, described by authorities as “a national tragedy”.
Also this Sunday in Thessaloniki, the country’s second largest city and where many of the victims lived, Molotov cocktails were again thrown at a team of anti-riot troops, the Greek news agency ANA reported.
The stationmaster of Larissa, the closest town to the scene of the accident between an Athens-Thessaloniki train in the north, and a freight train, claimed responsibility for the disaster.
Represented by the media as inexperienced and only recently in office, the 59-year-old man should be heard by Greek justice this Sunday and could be charged with manslaughter.
However, the state of degradation of the railway network, problems in the signaling system and railway safety were mentioned as existing problems.
Union representatives had warned in recent weeks about the various shortcomings in the network and the lack of workers.
The Greeks plan to express their displeasure again this Sunday at noon in front of the parliament, in the center of Athens.
In Athens and Thessaloniki, these protests have led to clashes between police and demonstrators in recent days.
On Friday, demonstrators protested and called for killers outside the headquarters of the Hellenic Train railway company in Athens, writing the word in red letters on the facade of the building.
Source: DN
