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3 March 2023
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57 people killed, scores injured after two trains collide in Greece
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At least 57 people have been killed and 80 injured, 25 seriously, after a collision between two trains in Greece on Tuesday night, 28 February 2023. A passenger train and a cargo train collided head-on at high speed just before the Vale of Tempe, a gorge that separates the regions of Thessaly and Macedonia, according to Konstantinos Agorastos, the regional governor. Multiple cars derailed and at least three burst into flames after the collision just before midnight as the passenger train was emerging from a highway underpass. Agorastos said about 194 passengers had been taken from the train and transported by bus to Thessaloniki, where relatives had gathered. 66 people were hospitalised and six of them are being treated in intensive care, according to the Greek authorities and around 150 fire fighters and 30 ambulances responded to the scene. Rescue crews illuminated the scene with floodlights before dawn on Wednesday as they searched frantically through the twisted, smoking wreckage for survivors.
After sunrise, they turned to heavy machinery that had been brought in to start moving large pieces of the trains. What appeared to be the passenger train's third carriage lay atop the crumpled remains of the first two, where emergency crews were directing their focus.
Identifying some victims was challenging due to the high temperatures reaching up to 1 300 degrees Celsius inside the first carriage.
Officials said many of the passengers on board the Athens to Thessaloniki train had been university students returning home after celebrating Carnival over the long weekend.
Agorastos said four carriages had derailed, with two "almost completely destroyed."
The passenger train had been heading from the capital Athens to the northern city of Thessaloniki, with around 350 customers on board, according to rail operator Hellenic Train.
Many of those killed in the crash were university students returning to Thessaloniki from carnival celebrations.
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 near a gorge where major highway and rail tunnels are located. “There were many big pieces of steel," said Vassilis Polyzos, a local resident who was one of the first people on the scene. "The trains were completely destroyed, both passenger and freight trains.”
He said dazed and disoriented people were escaping out of the train's rear cars as he arrived. “People, naturally, were scared - very scared,” he said. “They were looking around, searching; they didn't know where they were."
“Carriage one and two no longer exist, and the third has derailed,” Agorastos said.
Rescuers wearing headlamps 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.
Hospital officials in the nearby city of Larissa said at least 25 of those hurt had serious injuries.
“The evacuation process is ongoing and is being carried out under very difficult conditions due to the severity of the collision between the two trains,” said Vassilis Varthakoyiannis, a spokesperson for Greece’s fire fighting service.
Ioannis Xanthopoulos, head of the rescue team in Larisa, added that a fire made rescue efforts really difficult. "The fire fighters put out the fire but we were not able to get there quickly because the heat was terrible."
The possible cause of the collision was not immediately clear. Two rail officials were being questioned by police but had not been detained.
While visiting the crash site, the country’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis promised, "We will find the causes of this tragedy and do everything in our power to prevent something like this from ever happening again."
Hellenic Train, which has added high-speed services in recent years, is operated by Italy's FS Group, which runs rail services in several European countries.
Aftermath
Following the accident, Kostas Karamanlis, the Transport Minister of Greece, resigned, taking responsibility for the crash and for his failure to bring the railways of Greece up to 21st Century standards.
An emergency meeting was called by Greece's government following the crash and Health Minister Thanos Plevris visited the scene. President Katerina Sakellaropoulou cut short her visit to Moldova to offer support to the victims.
This is the deadliest rail disaster in Greek history, surpassing the death toll of the Corinth rail disaster in 1968. It was also the deadliest in Europe since the Santiago de Compostela derailment in 2013. It is also the deadliest ground transport accident in Greek history.
Protests
Protests erupted across Greece as anger grew over the worst rail disaster in the country's history.
In the capital Athens, several hundred students protested outside the headquarters of the national rail service, Hellenic Train. What began peacefully turned more confrontational with riot police using tear gas to disperse stone-throwing protesters. No arrests were recorded.
Similar protests occurred across the country, including in Thessaloniki and the northern city of Larissa, near where the passenger train carrying hundreds of people crashed into an oncoming freight train.
Railway workers' associations called strikes, halting national rail services and the subway in Athens, to protest working conditions and what they described as a lack of modernisation of the Greek rail system.
Sources: Euro News, Newsweek, France News
After sunrise, they turned to heavy machinery that had been brought in to start moving large pieces of the trains. What appeared to be the passenger train's third carriage lay atop the crumpled remains of the first two, where emergency crews were directing their focus.
Identifying some victims was challenging due to the high temperatures reaching up to 1 300 degrees Celsius inside the first carriage.
Officials said many of the passengers on board the Athens to Thessaloniki train had been university students returning home after celebrating Carnival over the long weekend.
Agorastos said four carriages had derailed, with two "almost completely destroyed."
The passenger train had been heading from the capital Athens to the northern city of Thessaloniki, with around 350 customers on board, according to rail operator Hellenic Train.
Many of those killed in the crash were university students returning to Thessaloniki from carnival celebrations.
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 near a gorge where major highway and rail tunnels are located. “There were many big pieces of steel," said Vassilis Polyzos, a local resident who was one of the first people on the scene. "The trains were completely destroyed, both passenger and freight trains.”
He said dazed and disoriented people were escaping out of the train's rear cars as he arrived. “People, naturally, were scared - very scared,” he said. “They were looking around, searching; they didn't know where they were."
“Carriage one and two no longer exist, and the third has derailed,” Agorastos said.
Rescuers wearing headlamps 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.
Hospital officials in the nearby city of Larissa said at least 25 of those hurt had serious injuries.
“The evacuation process is ongoing and is being carried out under very difficult conditions due to the severity of the collision between the two trains,” said Vassilis Varthakoyiannis, a spokesperson for Greece’s fire fighting service.
Ioannis Xanthopoulos, head of the rescue team in Larisa, added that a fire made rescue efforts really difficult. "The fire fighters put out the fire but we were not able to get there quickly because the heat was terrible."
The possible cause of the collision was not immediately clear. Two rail officials were being questioned by police but had not been detained.
While visiting the crash site, the country’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis promised, "We will find the causes of this tragedy and do everything in our power to prevent something like this from ever happening again."
Hellenic Train, which has added high-speed services in recent years, is operated by Italy's FS Group, which runs rail services in several European countries.
Aftermath
Following the accident, Kostas Karamanlis, the Transport Minister of Greece, resigned, taking responsibility for the crash and for his failure to bring the railways of Greece up to 21st Century standards.
An emergency meeting was called by Greece's government following the crash and Health Minister Thanos Plevris visited the scene. President Katerina Sakellaropoulou cut short her visit to Moldova to offer support to the victims.
This is the deadliest rail disaster in Greek history, surpassing the death toll of the Corinth rail disaster in 1968. It was also the deadliest in Europe since the Santiago de Compostela derailment in 2013. It is also the deadliest ground transport accident in Greek history.
Protests
Protests erupted across Greece as anger grew over the worst rail disaster in the country's history.
In the capital Athens, several hundred students protested outside the headquarters of the national rail service, Hellenic Train. What began peacefully turned more confrontational with riot police using tear gas to disperse stone-throwing protesters. No arrests were recorded.
Similar protests occurred across the country, including in Thessaloniki and the northern city of Larissa, near where the passenger train carrying hundreds of people crashed into an oncoming freight train.
Railway workers' associations called strikes, halting national rail services and the subway in Athens, to protest working conditions and what they described as a lack of modernisation of the Greek rail system.
Sources: Euro News, Newsweek, France News
