The violent train accident, which occurred overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, at the level of the Tempé Valley, derailed several wagons of a passenger train.
It’s an accident “unprecedented” in the history of Greece. At least 38 people died on Tuesday, February 28, in a collision between a freight convoy and a passenger train linking Athens and Thessaloniki, according to a new report published Wednesday evening by the authorities. “Everything shows that the tragedy is due, unfortunately, mainly to a tragic human error”asserted Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Transport Minister Kostas Karamanlis has announced his resignation. The station manager of Larissa, the town closest to the accident, was arrested during the day and prosecuted for “negligent homicides” and for being the cause of “bodily harm”.
“Of the 85 people injured”, figure announced in an initial assessment, “66 people have been hospitalized, six of whom are in intensive care”, said the firefighters. According to the Greek media, it is the “worse train accident than Greece has ever known”. The collision, which occurred shortly before midnight, derailed several cars.
Faulty security systems?
Some 150 firefighters, as well as 40 ambulances, were mobilized to the scene of the accident. Cranes and mechanics were also deployed to try to clear the debris and lift the overturned wagons. Some were partially destroyed and one of them was completely crushed, making it difficult for the rescuers to extract the survivors. Several people also found themselves trapped in a wagon that had caught fire, according to the public television channel ERT.
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“It’s an unimaginable accident”denounced the president of the OSE train drivers’ union, Kostas Genidounias, at the scene of the accident. “Two trains ended up on the same track and collided head-on. (…) No safety system, remote control and traffic lights are working. This horrible accident would have been avoided if the safety systems were working”he added.
The controversy swelled on Wednesday concerning the state of the rail network, which many consider dilapidated. Most victims are “young people”underlined the Prime Minister, as many students returned to Thessaloniki after a long weekend, Monday being a public holiday in Greece.