Officials say the passenger train, traveling between Athens and Thessaloniki, was carrying more than 350 people when it collided with a freight train. Nearly sixty patients are still hospitalized.
At least 57 people were killed in a train accident in Greece, with the country’s prime minister citing “tragic human error” as the primary cause.
The search for survivors continues after a passenger train collided with a freight train carrying shipping containers traveling in the opposite direction on the same track at speeds estimated to reach 100 miles per hour.
Carriages derailed and caught fire in Greece’s deadliest train accident in living memory. After catching fire, the temperature in one carriage reached 1,300C (2,370F).
Some passengers kicked through windows to escape the inferno late on Tuesday. While others were thrown 40 meters due to the impact of the crash.
The passenger service had left Athens and was traveling to Thessaloniki when the collision occurred near the central town of Larissa, 200 miles north of the capital.
Many of the victims were believed to be university students returning home after a long holiday weekend.
48 patients are still hospitalized.
The passenger train was said to be carrying around 350 passengers. Buses transported more than 200 unharmed survivors to Thessaloniki.
Stergios Minenis, 28, who jumped to safety from the wreckage, said: “There was panic… The fire was immediate. As we turned over, we were being burned on both sides.
People were screaming
A passenger who escaped from the fifth carriage told Skai TV, “People were smashing windows and screaming… One of the windows collapsed due to the impact of iron from the other train.”
There was a fire next to us,” another said. We discovered a hole, and from there, we were able to escape. The wagon began to spin, then came to rest on its side, and we exited.
“It was a ten-second nightmare in the flames. There was panic in the carriage because the smoke prevented passengers from seeing their surroundings.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis referred to it as a “terrifying train accident without precedent in our country” and pledged a thorough, independent investigation.
He said the crash was “mostly the result of a sad human error,” but he didn’t say more.
A station master was detained as investigators attempted to determine why two trains had been on the same track “for many kilometers,” and the country’s transport minister, Kostas Karamanlis, has resigned.
According to Yannis Nitsas, president of the Greek Railroad Workers Union, eight rail employees were killed. Including the two drivers of the freight train and the two drivers of the passenger train.
The rescue operation will continue into the night, with heavy machinery required to move the enormous train carcasses so crews can meticulously search the wreckage.
Nikos Zygouris, a rescuer, stated, “It is unlikely that there will be any survivors, but hope dies last.”
Roubini Leondari, the chief coroner of Larissa, stated that 43 disfigured bodies had been brought to her for examination and would require DNA identification.
“The majority (of the bodies) are young people,” she told ERT. “They are in very bad condition.”
The government declared three days of national mourning until Friday, with flags flying at half-mast in tribute to the victims.
