A passenger train crash in Athens and Thessaloniki: a nationwide carnival of flames and explosions in Greece’s largest city
Rescue workers are in a desperate search for survivors after a head-on collision between two trains in central Greece killed dozens of people and injured scores.
The national rail operator said that a passenger train was carrying 350 people when it hit another train at high speed.
A teenage survivor told several reporters that he was riding in the fourth carriage when he felt a strong braking and saw sparks. Then everything suddenly stopped.
The focus of the recovery efforts was the first two carriages of the train, according to the Greek Fire Service. The death toll is expected to rise.
The second-largest city of Greece, which is renowned for its festivals and vibrant cultural life, is home to the passenger train. The collision follows a nationwide carnival at the weekend which ended with a public holiday on Monday.
There were images on Greece’s state- owned public broadcaster ERT of the smoke billowing out of the toppled carriages.
The passengers who received minor injuries were brought by bus to the northern city of Thessaloniki. Police took the names of anyone they found who might be missing.
Rail operator Hellenic Train said the northbound passenger train from Athens to Thessaloniki, Greece’s second-largest city, had about 350 passengers on board.
The firefighting in Greece’s Vale of Tempe: A collision between two derailed trains at a town in the state of Arizona
Multiple cars derailed and three burst into flames after a collision between two cars near a town in the state of Arizona. Rescue crews illuminated the scene with floodlights before dawn on Wednesday as they searched frantically through the twisted, smoking wreckage for survivors.
Survivors said several passengers were thrown through the windows of the train cars due to the impact. They said others fought to free themselves after the passenger train buckled, slamming into a field next to the tracks near a gorge about 380 kilometers (235 miles) north of Athens where major highway and rail tunnels are located.
Vassilis Polyzos, a local resident who was one of the first people on the scene, said there were many big pieces of steel. The trains were completely destroyed.
The trains crashed just before the Vale of Tempe, a gorge that separates the regions of Thessaly and Macedonia. The two trains crashed head on, according to the regional governor of the Thessaly area, Costas Agorastos.
Rescuers wearing head lamps worked in thick smoke, pulling pieces of mangled metal from the cars to search for trapped people. Others scoured the field with flashlights and checked underneath the wreckage. Several of the dead are believed to have been found in the restaurant area near the front of the passenger train.
Vassilis Varthakoyiannis, a Spokesperson for Greece’s firefighting service, said the rescue process is ongoing and being carried out in very difficult conditions.
The tragedy of a train colliding head-on with a freight train in a highway in Tempe, Greece, was reported by the Associated Press
A teenage survivor who did not give his name told reporters that just before the crash he felt a strong braking and saw sparks and then there was a sudden stop.
As hopes for a cause faded, investigators began turning to the question that has become a familiar refrain in U.S. media: What caused the train crash in Ohio?
Though the trains appeared to be traveling on a double-track line, both trains appeared to be moving on the same track, heading towards each other. The trains collided, head-on, just before midnight local time, as the passenger train was exiting a tunnel under a highway in the municipality of Tempe.
More than 150 firefighters and paramedics are on the scene, said Greek Fire Service spokesperson Vassilis Varthakogiannis in a media briefing. The crews are using cranes and construction equipment to help move some of the heaviest chunks of steel.
Citing several government sources, ERT reports that more than 66 people were hospitalized, and at least six were still in intensive care as of Wednesday. There were 130 injuries.
The death toll is 36 but is expected to rise due to the fires in the first three carriages which caused temperatures to soar past 2,300 degrees, and it’s been complicated by that.
In a statement shared in the local media, the Transport Minister said he was stepping down as a sign of respect for the memory of the people who died so unfairly.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis echoed that statement on Wednesday, saying in a tweet that “we will find out the causes of this tragedy and do everything in our power to make sure it never happens again.”
The BBC reports that the station master from the city of Larissa was arrested and charged with manslaughter by negligence. The 59-year-old Hellenic Train employee denied any wrongdoing, saying the accident may have been a technical failure.
Authorities say getting a full picture of what happened might take some time. Greek Railroad Workers Union President Yannis Nitsas said that the two drivers of the freight train were among the nine rail employees killed in the crash, reports the Associated Press.
Hellenic Train said in a statement that its main issue for the moment is to complete the rescue and evacuate process.
The train collision is likely to spark a debate about railway safety according to an AP reporter in Athens. It may mirror the one taking place in the U.S. following the aftermath of an Ohio train derailment that sent hazardous materials spilling into the surrounding residential area.
An initial report from the National Transportation Safety Board stopped short of declaring a conclusive cause of the Ohio derailment, but said a wheel bearing overheated, raising questions of whether the train’s safety sensors and procedures were sufficient.
The collision is already raising questions about whether lines, systems and signaling equipment were properly inspected during the sale, Gatopoulos said.
The Larissa train crash in Greece: a case study of a train station manager in the wake of the fatal head-on collision with a freight train
After a train station manager in Larissa was arrested in connection to the collision, Greek authorities on Thursday made public striking dispatch recordings that show one of the train drivers receiving instructions to ignore a red light.
People took to the streets of Tempi after the head-on collision between a train carrying more than 350 people and a freight train. The death toll continued to increase late in the day.
Protesters clashed with police in the capital Athens, the country’s transport minister resigned in the wake of the tragedy and a rail workers’ union is going on strike, accusing the government of “disrespect” in the sector.
Protesters gathered outside the central Athens headquarters of Greek rail company Hellenic Train again on Thursday evening in a demonstration organized by student and worker unions.
The identification process continues at Larissa General Hospital, which is where relatives of missing loved ones are waiting to hear about them.
Speaking earlier to Greek media, Dimitris Bournazis, who is trying to get news about his father and brother, said no one has given him any information. He was trying to find out the location of his family on the train when it crashed. He said he called the offices of Hellenic Train three times but no one has called him back.
The prime minister and the health minister came here yesterday. Why? To do something? To explain what? Where are they today? According to Bournazis, no one has given them any information as to how many people were inside.
He said he helped around 10 people escape by breaking the glass and throwing the luggage outside the carriage.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/02/europe/greece-train-crash-larissa-protests-intl/index.html
The tragic accident of Friday night in Greece: Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the families of the victims of the tragedy
Greece has the lowest record of railway passenger safety in Europe, according to a report from the European Union Agency for Railways.
In an extraordinary meeting, the Greek federation of rail workers decided unanimously to launch the 24-hour strike on Thursday to highlight poor working conditions and chronic understaffing.
It accused the federal government of “disrespect” towards railways for causing the crash, saying “more permanent staff, better training and mainly the implementation of modern security systems, are permanently thrown in the bin.”
The railway system in Greece is not up to 21st century standards according to the former transport minister.
In a televised address after visiting the crash site, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the collision was “mainly” due “to tragic human error.”
The transport minister made an honorable decision to resign, as well as the heads of the Hellenic Railways Organization and its subsidiary ERGOSE, he said.
Britain’s King Charles has said in a statement that he and his wife, Queen Consort, are “most shocked and profoundly sad by the news of the dreadful accident.”
The families of the victims of the terrible accident that took place last night are in my thoughts. France is a member of the Greeks.