TEMPE, GREECE (AP) – Rescuers searched the burnt-out wreckage of two trains that collided with each other in northern Greece, killing at least 36 people and leaving several train carriages in twisted steel knots.
Transport Minister Costas Karamanlis resigned, saying he felt it was his “obligation” to do so “as a fundamental sign of respect for the memory of those who died unjustly”.
The cause of the crash near the Tempe Valley, a river valley about 380 kilometers (235 miles) north of Athens, was not immediately clear, but a station master in the nearby town of Larissa was arrested Wednesday. Police did not release his name. Two others were arrested for questioning.
Passengers say train crash was like an explosion
A teenage survivor, who did not give his name to reporters, said he felt the brakes hit hard just before the crash and saw sparks before coming to a sudden stop. “Our car didn’t derail, but the car in front derailed and was wrecked,” he said, clearly shaking. He used the bag to break the window of the fourth car and escaped.
Stefanos Gogakos, who was in the rear car, said the impact felt like an explosion and he could see flames at the front of the train.
“The window glass shattered and fell on us,” he told ERT. “My head rattled and hit the roof of the carriage. Some people started climbing out the windows as the car was filled with smoke. The door was closed, but a few minutes later a train attendant opened it and got off. ”
Several cars derailed and at least one of his was set ablaze.
“Temperatures reached 1,300 degrees Celsius (2,372 degrees Fahrenheit), making it even more difficult to identify anyone inside,” said Fire Department spokesman.
Wreckage complicates salvage
On Wednesday, rescuers used cranes and other heavy equipment to move most of the train and found more bodies and dismembered bodies.
“There were a lot of big pieces of steel,” said local resident Vasilis Polizos. “The trains were completely destroyed, both passenger and freight trains.”
Rescue worker Lazarus Tharianidis told his ERT that crew members tried “very carefully” to untangle steel, sheet metal and other materials twisted by the crash. “It’s going to take a long time,” Thalianidis said.
The Greek fire service said about 76 people were hospitalized, including six in intensive care units.
More than 200 of him, unharmed or slightly injured, were taken by bus to Thessaloniki, 130 kilometers north of him. Arriving to find the missing, the police looked up their names. Eight railway workers, including two freight train drivers and two passenger train drivers, were killed in the accident, according to Yannis Nitsas, president of the Hellenic Railway Workers’ Union.
Greece mourns from carnival
Many of his 350 people on the passenger train were students returning from a tumultuous Greek carnival, officials said. This year, for the first time since the pandemic began in 2020, the festivities preceding Lent were fully celebrated.
The government declared three days of national mourning for him starting Wednesday, with flags being flown at half mast in front of all European Commission buildings in Brussels.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who visited the crash site, said the government must help recover the injured and identify the dead.
