Greece: 32 dead and 85 injured in an accident between two trains

Europe 1 with AFP 08:14, March 01, 2023, modified at 08:16, March 01, 2023

"Thirty-two passengers were found dead," said Vassilis Vathrakogiannis, the spokesman for the Greek firefighters during a brief press briefing, adding that the rescue operation was still in progress.

“Of the 85 people injured, 53 people remain hospitalized,” he added.

No details have been provided at this stage as to why the two trains had collided.

But according to the Greek media, it is the "worst train accident that Greece has ever known".

The "worst train accident that Greece has ever experienced"

Several carriages derailed minutes before midnight on Tuesday north of the central city of Larissa in the Tempe Valley after a freight train collided with another convoy carrying 350 passengers, this report reported. spokesperson.

The passenger train ran between Athens and Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city in the north of the country, while the freight train made the reverse route.

According to the mayor of Tempé, Yorgos Manolis, on the public broadcaster ERT, many students were on board the train and were returning to Thessaloniki after a long weekend due to a public holiday in Greece.

Some 150 firefighters, as well as 40 ambulances, were mobilized according to Greek relief.

Cranes and mechanics were also deployed to try to clear the debris and lift the overturned wagons.

"Never seen anything like it"

"I've never seen anything like this in my entire life. It's tragic. Five hours later we find bodies," said an exhausted rescuer emerging from the carcass where he and his team are trying to recover. extract bodies of passengers.

One of the wagons, white with a blue and red stripe, was completely crushed, making the intervention of rescuers particularly difficult, while others were partly destroyed.

Heavy smoke and flames were emerging from other cars.

"Most of the passengers have been brought to safety," said the fire department spokesperson.

"The operation to free trapped people is underway and is taking place in difficult conditions, due to the seriousness of the collision between the two trains," he also said.

Some "194 people were transferred by bus to Thessaloniki among them 26 were transported to hospitals," said the spokesman for the fire department.

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

A government crisis meeting was organised.

Health Minister Thanos Plevris visited the scene while Interior Minister Takis Theodorikakos oversees the situation from the crisis management center with police and fire officials.

The two hospitals in the Larissa region requisitioned

A passenger claimed on the Mega television channel to have "heard the driver (of the train) talking to the ticket controller (...) we had the impression that something was wrong".

"We experienced something very shocking," said Lazos, a passenger interviewed by the Protothema newspaper. 

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

On the Skai television channel, a passenger says: "At the time of the accident, we jumped because the windows suddenly exploded. People were screaming and were afraid".

"Fortunately, we were able to open the doors and escape fairly quickly. In other wagons, they did not manage to get out and one wagon even caught fire", continues the young man still traumatized.

The two hospitals in the Larissa region have been requisitioned to accommodate the many injured, according to Greek firefighters.

The military hospitals of Thessaloniki and Athens are also "on the alert" in case of need, they stressed.