what we know about the collision between two trains that killed at least 57 people

Scenes “apocalyptic”. A collision between a passenger train and a freight convoy killed at least 57 people near Larissa, Greece, on the night of Tuesday February 28 to Wednesday March 1, according to a new provisional police report. An investigation has been opened to determine the circumstances of the accident. It has already led to the arrest of a station master. Franceinfo takes stock of what we know about this accident, the deadliest in the country’s history.

A head-on collision between two trains

The crash happened around 11:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday near the Tempe Valley. A passenger train linking Athens and Thessaloniki, the country’s second largest city, collided head-on with a goods convoy traveling the opposite way. The first carried 342 passengers, including a large number of students returning from a long weekend.

According to the first elements of the investigation, the two trains were on the same track. The shock destroyed the two locomotives and caused the derailment of the first three cars of the passenger train, pulverized by the violence of the impact. A fire then broke out in the dining car, with temperatures reaching 1,300 degrees, according to Greek firefighters.

Fire and rescue teams who arrived on the scene reported scenes “apocalyptic”. “People covered in blood were running around asking for help. People were strewn across the fields after being thrown from shattered windows”said the president of the union of first aid workers on the public television channel ERT.

At least 57 people killed

Both train drivers were killed instantly. In total, at least 57 people were killed, according to a provisional report by the authorities. Most of them were in the first wagons. Many bodies were charred and some passengers can only be identified through DNA samples. Dozens of other people were injured and transported to Larissa. The mayor of the city spoke about “floods of ambulances bringing burns, amputees, everything you can imagine”.

Some 500 people continued relief operations overnight from Wednesday to Thursday. “Time is against us”, explained a spokesperson for the fire department. “The more time passes, the less the chances [de retrouver des survivants] are big”he added.

Station master arrested

The Greek authorities immediately opened an investigation into the accident, to determine how the passenger train could have been allowed to use the same track as a freight convoy. Coming to the scene of the disaster, the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, affirmed that “everything shows that the tragedy is due, unfortunately, mainly to a tragic human error”. He declared a three-day national mourning.

The Larissa station master was arrested on Wednesday after a statement at the police station. This 59-year-old man, prosecuted for “negligent homicides” and “involuntary bodily harm”, has “admitted a mistake” at a court hearing on Thursday morning. If convicted, he faces life in prison.

Transport Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis tendered his resignation on Wednesday. His successor on Thursday apologized to the families of the victims as he took office. “I want to tell them (…) that everything will be investigated”said Giorgios Gerapetritis. He said the government would set up an expert committee to investigate “transparently” on the causes of the collision.

Demonstrations and paralyzed traffic

Residents demonstrated in Larissa on Wednesday, including with banners “Privatization kills”. Rallies also took place in Athens, outside the headquarters of the Hellenic Train company, on Wednesday and Thursday evening. Some 2,000 demonstrators also gathered on Thursday evening in Thessaloniki. The demonstration resulted in the throwing of stones and Molotov cocktails.

On Thursday, the trains were at a standstill after a call for a 24-hour strike by railway unions to denounce “the lack of respect that governments have shown over time towards the Greek railways, which has led” to this disaster.

A controversy swells over the state of the rail network, which experts consider dilapidated. The president of the OSE train drivers’ union, Kostas Genidounias, highlighted the lack of safety on the line where the collision occurred. “All (signalling) is done manually. It’s been since the year 2000 that the systems have not worked”, he got carried away. The union representatives of the Hellenic Train railway company sounded the alarm in this regard just three weeks ago.