At least

16 people were killed and 85 injured

in a collision between a passenger train traveling between

Athens and Thessaloniki

and a freight convoy, Greece's fire service said.

"At least 16 people have been found dead so far," a spokesman for the Greek fire brigade told a news conference, noting that the rescue operation was still underway.

"85 people were injured and were taken to surrounding hospitals," it added.

The spokesman confirmed that three wagons derailed

at the height of Lárisa

, in the center of the country, where the collision between the train with 350 passengers and the freight convoy occurred.

One of the wagons caught fire and several people were trapped, according to the public television channel Ert.

On the Skai television channel, the region's governor, Kostas Agorastros, stated that "

more than 250 passengers were transferred by bus to Thessaloniki."

"Unfortunately, the number of wounded and dead is at risk of being high," he added.

The government organized a crisis meeting after the event.

Lazos, a passenger questioned by the

Protothema

newspaper , declared: "We have experienced something very shocking."

"I'm not hurt, but I'm stained with the blood of other people who were hurt next to me," he said.

The

two hospitals in the Lárisa region

were required to receive the many injured, according to the local media Onlarissa.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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